Ideal X

Ideal X

Side view of the Ideal X by Karsten Kunibert Krüger-Kopiske

Ship data flag  United States Bulgaria   other ship names Elemir (1959–1964) Ship type T2-SE-A1 tanker converted into a container freighter Shipping company Pan Atlantic Tanker Company / Sea-Land Corporation Shipyard Marinship Corp, Sausalito Launch December 30, 1944 takeover January 1945 Whereabouts Sea damage February 8, 1964, demolition from October 20, 1964 in Hirao

Ship dimensions and crew length 159.60 m ( Lüa ) 153.30 m ( Lpp ) width 20.70 m measurement 10,441 GRT

Machine system machine 1 × steam turbine on electric motor Top speed 15 kn (28 km / h) propeller 1 × fixed propeller

Transport capacities Load capacity 16,613 dwt Container 58 TEU

The Ideal X was one of the world's first container ships and heralded the age of intermodal transport as a completely new type of ship .

history

After the transport company Malcom McLean had sold a 75 percent stake in his freight forwarder for 6 million US dollars in 1955, he invested this money in the acquisition of the shipping company Pan-Atlantic, which he later renamed SeaLand Industries . 1955/56 McLean dropped the first four ships converted to container ships, the Sea-Land T2 class , which includes the Ideal X was one.

The T2-SE-A1 tanker Potrero Hills was built in 1944/45 at the Marinship Corp shipyard . in Sausalito , United States , built as construction number 68 for the War Shipping Administration in San Francisco .

The ship was renamed Captain John DP in 1948 and Potrero Hills again in 1951 , before McLean acquired it in 1955 and named it Ideal X after a conversion to the container ship . It was intended to operate on a scheduled service between the east coast ports of the United States. The maiden voyage as a container ship took place on April 26, 1956 on the route from Newark ( New Jersey ) to Houston ( Texas ) and was closely watched by cargo participants as well as by trade unions and government officials. After docking in Houston, the containers were loaded onto trailers , meticulously inspected, and removed by non-McLean trucks . After the cargo had reached its destination safely and dryly, the first hurdle was overcome. Nonetheless, McLean had to do more persuasion, which was achieved in particular with lower freight rates and better freight insurance rates.

In 1959 the ship was sold to a Bulgarian owner and renamed Elemir . On February 8, 1964, it suffered such severe damage from a sea ​​hammer that it was sold for demolition. This began on October 20, 1964 in Hirao, Japan .

Container arrangement

The Ideal X was converted by the Baltimore Sparrows Point shipyard of the Bethlehem Steel group with so-called Spardecks for the transport of containers. It was a construction that was also used during the war to transport bulky loads such as pre-assembled aircraft across the Atlantic. From today's point of view, this was an ineffective design, as each container still had to be lashed individually on deck, but at the time of the conversion it was sufficient to prove the general feasibility of intermodal transport as such and to convince the freighters and unloaders in particular .

Web links

• Report on the early days of SeaLand (English; PDF file; 333 kB), accessed on August 4

Footnotes

1. ↑ Malcolm McLean , In: Logistics Hall of Fame
2. ↑ Malcolm McLean , In: The Economist , May 31, 2001 (English)
3. ^ History , Port Authority of New York and New Jersey