West India Fruit and Steamship Company

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The West India Fruit and Steamship Company (WIF & SS Co.) operated a rail ferry service between the port of Palm Beach , Florida in the United States and the Cuban capital Havana for a period from shortly after the Second World War until the deterioration in relations between the two states 1961, which resulted in the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and the United States' embargo on Cubacame to a head. The company put its six ferries up for sale in June 1961 as trade between the United States and Cuba hit rock bottom and ceased ferry operations in August 1961.

The WIF & SS Co. not only operated the railway ferry service, but also operated as a railway company. It provided direct transport of railroad cars from across North America to every station on the Cuban Railroad . There was no need to reload the freight and the transport time was shortened.

Ferries

During the entire service life of the connection to Cuba, five rail ferries were used. They were very similar in construction to those used on the Great Lakes . The fleet also included a car ferry and another ship.

  • SS Grand Haven (Railway Ferry)
  • SS Henry M. Flagler (rail ferry)
  • SS Joseph R. Parrott (railway ferry)
  • SS New Grand Haven (rail ferry)
  • SS City of New Orleans (rail ferry)
  • SS Sea Level (ship)
  • SS City of Havana (car ferry)

The Grand Haven was previously a ship of the Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company, a subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway, and was used on routes across Lake Michigan . She was built in 1903 by the Craig Shipbuilding Company in Toledo, Ohio . Historical photos show the equipment with a special gate required by the US Coast Guard for rail ferries on the Great Lakes. It was decommissioned in 1960.

The Henry M. Flagler , built in 1914, and the Joseph R. Parrott , built in 1916, were used as ships of the Florida East Coast Car Ferry Company on the route between Key West and Havana before the Second World War before they were confiscated by the US Navy for war purposes were. Both ships were built by the William Cramp and Sons company in Philadelphia .

The New Grand Haven was built by Canadian Vickers, Ltd. built in Montreal in 1951.

The City of New Orleans built the Kure Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Kure, Japan, in 1959. Only a few hundred journeys were probably made before the connection to Cuba was discontinued.

In addition to the rail ferries, in 1928 Seatrain Lines bought the Seatrain New Orleans , a four-deck ship built by Newcastle's Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson . She drove from Belle Chasse ( New Orleans ) to Havana. Railway wagons were loaded and unloaded by crane. It was through the WIF & SS Co. in Sea Level renamed and continued on the line to Belle Chasse.

WIF & SS Co. maintained a car and passenger ferry, the City of Havana , which commuted between Havana and Key West.

business

In Palm Beach, the WIF & SS Co. was connected to the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) through the West Palm Beach Terminal Company (WPBT), which took over the loading and unloading of the wagons from the WIF & SS Co. ferries . Freight cars from all over North America could get onto the Florida East Coast Railway via Jacksonville. In Havana there was a connection to the Ferrocarriles Unidos de la Habana .

After arriving in Cuba, no reloading of the goods was necessary, the railroad cars were transported directly to their destination.

Cuban wagons were probably rarely used on mainland North America. The WIF & SS Co. owned a fleet of refrigerated trucks and freight cars with WIF reporting marks . This car was used regularly on routes in the USA.

Agricultural products such as tobacco, sugar, rum, pineapple, tomatoes and slaughtered meat as well as scrap metal were exported from Cuba. In the opposite direction industrial products, chemicals, food as well as steel products, railway equipment and heavy loads are transported.

In January 1957, 260 railroad cars were listed for the WIF & SS Co.

Other ferry companies

The Florida East Coast Car Ferry Company started a ferry service from Key West in Florida to Havana in 1915. It was a subsidiary of the Florida East Coast Railway and did not resume ferry operations after World War II. After the connection to Key West was destroyed by the Labor Day hurricane in 1935 , the ferry terminal in Port Everglades was used.

Seatrain Lines entered the ferry service between the USA and Cuba in 1929. Rail cars were shipped to Havana from Hoboken, New Jersey , Savannah, Georgia , New Orleans, and Texas City . In 1953, Seatrain sold the rights and ships to WIF & SS Co.

Suwannee Trainferry Lines only operated one ship, the Antonio Maceo (named after the Cuban independence fighter Antonio Maceo ).

The connection between Port Everglades and Cuba was established after the Second World War.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ WEST INDIA LISTS FERRIES FOR SALE; Six Rail Car-Auto Vessels Served US-Cuba Trade . In: New York Times . June 2, 1961. Retrieved January 6, 2008.
  2. ^ Boxcar Modeling The West India Fruit Car . In: Mainline Modeler . May 1988.
  3. ↑ a b Superior All Rail Route to Cuba [brochure] . West India Fruit and Steamship, (unknown).
  4. ^ A b George W. Hilton: The Great Lakes Car Ferries . Montevallo Historical Press, Davenport, Iowa 1962, 2003, ISBN 0-9658624-3-7 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Edward A. Mueller: Steamships of the Two Henrys 1996.
  6. ↑ a b Michael Krieger: Where Rails Meet the Sea . MetroBooks, New York, NY 1998, ISBN 1-56799-597-7 .
  7. ↑ Drive Your Car to Cuba [brochure] . West India Fruit and Steamship, Nov. 1956.
  8. ↑ Edward A Ridolph, Edward A: The Boat Trains: Havana Car Ferry . In: National Railway Bulletin . 44, 02. Number 1979.
  9. ↑ a b c Cars Go Overnight to Cuba . In: Railway Age . April 7, 1952.
  10. ^ A b Oscar Zanetti, Alejandro Garcia: Sugar and Railroads: A Cuban History, 1837-1959 (English Translation) . The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 1998, ISBN 0-8078-4692-9 .
  11. ↑ The Official Guide . West India Fruit and Steamship Co., Inc., Nov. 1957.
  12. ^ William D. Middleton: The Last Interurbans . Central Electric Railfans' Association, Chicago, Ill. 2003, ISBN 0-915348-36-5 .
  13. ^ Seth H. Bramson: Speedway to Sunshine: The Story of the Florida East Coast Railway . Boston Mills Press, Erin, ON 1984, 2003, ISBN 1-55046-358-6 .