Pacific Coast Container Inc history

In 1867 it began the first regular shipping service between the United States and Asia, carrying passengers, cargo, and mail between the western United States, China, and Japan.

1915: Pacific Mail is restricted from using the Panama Canal; its parent company, the Southern Pacific Railroad, begins selling off Pacific Mail's fleet.

PACECO started as a mechanical engineering company in 1922 in Oakland.

1924: Dollar Steamship Lines acquires the Pacific Mail name.

In 1943, PACECO built the first of its five US Navy tugboats.

The company had recently launched its efforts in intermodal shipping, when it acquired more than 1,000 small shipping containers in 1951.

By 1952, Davies owned 11 percent of the outstanding shares of the company, becoming its largest minority shareholder.

Matson was so impressed with the crane at Encinal Terminals that it ordered two more in 1960, installing one in Los Angeles and the other in Honolulu.

PACECO was sold to Fruehauf Trailer Corporation in 1967.

1973: APL makes its final trans-Pacific passenger voyage.

1980: APL stock goes public.

The President Lincoln entered APL's fleet in 1982, the same year the company introduced its 45-foot high-cube shipping container to the industry.

The company continued its growth with the launching of a $500 million capital expansion program in 1986 that included the purchases of five new C10-class container ships and new rail equipment, and provided enhancements for its shipping terminals and computer systems.

The Port of Nanjing, China, purchased PACECO’s Encinal Terminal cranes in 1987 and redesigned them the following year to meet standards set by the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society.

Also in 1991 APL spent $78 million to buy back 3.8 million shares of its stock from Itel Corporation, a transportation equipment leasing company based in Chicago that held nearly 21 percent of the company's stock.

For these reasons, APL's revenues from its North America transportation operations declined in 1992.

In 1993, APL's revenues and volumes from North American stacktrain operations improved.

APL entered into a Global Alliance Agreement in 1995 and began service to Europe and Latin America.

1997: APL merges with Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), keeping its name; the company enters into the New World Alliance agreement.

Yet, the company's sales dropped to below $3.6 billion in 2001, while APL's parent company, NOL, reported a $57 million loss for the year.

By 2003, business was improving for APL, which recorded first quarter earnings (before net interest expense and tax) of $87 million.