Waterman Steamship Corporation

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Waterman Steamship Corporation
Founded1919
Headquarters Mobile, Alabama, United States
Services Container shipping and Roll-on/roll-off
Parent SEACOR Holdings
Website https://watermanlogistics.com/

Waterman is an American deep sea ocean carrier, specializing in liner services and time charter contracts. It is owned by SEACOR Holdings.

Contents

History

Waterman was founded in 1919 in Mobile, Alabama by John Barnett Waterman, Henry Crawford Slaton, T.M. Stevens, W.D. Bellingrath, and C.W. Hempstead following their departure from the British-owned Elder Dempster Steamship Company. Waterman and associates started with just one ship, the Eastern Sun leased from the U.S. Shipping Board for service to Liverpool and Manchester. [1]

In 1955, McLean Industries, Inc. purchased the stock of Waterman Steamship Corporation from the stockholders. [2] From its single-ship beginnings, Waterman had amassed a fleet of 125 ships, owned and operated its own shipbuilding and repair yards, owned or controlled three other shipping companies and employed thousands of workers. [1] The company maintained about 40 years of business relationship with Exxon Corporation, which exclusively supplied the company's fleet with gas and bunker fuel oil. [3] In 2017, SEACOR Holdings acquired Waterman parent International Shipholding Corporation. [4] In 2019, sister company Central Gulf Lines took the Waterman name. [5]

The former Waterman Steamship Corporation building on Saint Joseph Street remains a prominent building in the downtown Mobile skyline. It was sold to Darryl Smith of Hammond, LA in 2017. [6] [7] It opened in 1950 and is famous for its extensive murals in the lobby and a large rotating globe. The globe can now be seen on display at the Mitchell Center at the University of South Alabama. [8]

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References

  1. 1 2 From the Waterman Steamship Corporation records at the University of South Alabama website
  2. Lessambo, Felix (2021-11-02). U.S. Mergers and Acquisitions: Legal and Financial Aspects. Cham: Springer Nature. p. 44. ISBN   978-3-030-85734-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. Force, Robert; Yiannopoulos, A. N.; Davies, Martin (2006). Admiralty and Maritime Law. Washington, D.C.: Beard Books. p. 52. ISBN   1-58798-290-0.
  4. "International Shipholding emerges from bankruptcy as part of". The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate . June 2, 2017.
  5. "Central Gulf Lines, Inc. And Waterman Steamship Corporation Announce Major Rebranding Effort :: SEACOR Holdings Inc".
  6. "Portfolio - Star Service - A Fidelity BSG Company".
  7. "House on Ono sells for $4.2 million cash". October 2017.
  8. Kirkland, Scotty. "Waterman Steamship Corporation". Encyclopedia of Alabama. The Encyclopedia of Alabama TM. Retrieved 16 May 2015.