1953-1962

(click photo to enlarge)

• In 1953, Crowley Pioneered transportation of railcars loaded with bails of dissolving pulp on a 125-mile water link between railroad tracks at Ward Cove in Ketchikan, Alaska and Prince Rupert, British Columbia
• Also in 1953, Crowley acquired the Matinolich shipyard in Oakland
• Crowley initiated its long commitment to arctic transportation with an agreement in 1955 to resupply the U.S. Government's distant early warning radar and communication system on the Alaska coastline
• Regular container transportation services to Alaska from the contiguous 48 were initiated in 1958
• Four new steel barges capable of carrying 300 containers were introduced to the fleet along with 600 containers and terminal cranes
• Crowley completed the first penetration of the Artic by commercial tug and barge in 1958
• Four million board feet of lumber was transported by barge on the West Coast
• The San Francisco Bay passenger services were expanded between 1954 and 1958
• In the mid-1950s, Converted barges undertook the hauling of hot (350 degrees) paving-grade asphalt