industry shipping founded 1848 headquarters france and united states key people kenneth glenn president services container shipping terminals revenue us 7.9 billion fy 2011 number of employees 4 300 2012 parent cma cgm website apl.com american president lines ltd. now simply referred to as apl along with its parent company cma cgm is the world s third largest 1 container transportation and shipping company providing more than 80 weekly services . 2 apl container ship apl container apl operates a container ship fleet including 153 container vessels . formerly a subsidiary of neptune orient lines nol it is now a wholly owned subsidiary of cma cgm a global transportation and logistics company engaged in shipping and related businesses 3 4 based in france . in 1938 the u.s. government took over the management of the dollar steamship co. which was in financial difficulties and transferred their assets to the newly formed american president lines . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 pacific mail steamship company 1.2 dollar shipping company 1.3 american president lines 2 terminals 3 references 4 external links history edit pacific mail steamship company edit main article pacific mail steamship company ss california pacific mail s first ship that departed new york almost empty before being filled to the brim with hopeful gold miners heading for california in 1848 1849 following the end of the mexican american war in 1848 the united states pacific coastline now extended from puget sound to san diego . when the 29th congress passed the mail steamer bill 1847 mail delivery was authorized to be routed by ship from the eastern seaboard to the pacific coast via the isthmus of panama with two steamship routes operating new york city to chagres colombia on the eastern side of the isthmus and then a second route from panama colombia to astoria oregon . that same year william henry aspinwall secured a 10 year government contract through arnold harris with the new york state senate incorporating the pacific mail steamship company with a capital of 400 000 of which aspinwall was elected the first president . this company was to move the mail from panama to the west coast being paid 199 000 per annum by the u.s. government . in january 1848 the company ordered three mail steamers from the shipyard of william henry webb the ss california ss panama and ss oregon . on october 5 6 or october 6 7 8 9 1848 the pacific mail s first of these steamers the ss california departed from new york city to run service from panama to the west coast traveling around cape horn to san francisco coincidentally the california gold rush began in january of that year and the steamer and its sisters oregon and panama took on many hopeful miners en route . 6 7 8 9 the pacific mail docks in san francisco circa 1860s . two steamships are shown both of which are in trans pacific service at this time . prior to founding pacific mail aspinwall had extensive experience in the shipping business as a partner in howland & aspinwall . howland & aspinwall operated some of the most famous clipper ships ever built . in 1845 while it already owned the ann mckim which was regarded as the fastest ship afloat the firm built the rainbow which was even faster . the rainbow is considered to be the first of the extreme clippers which were the racehorses of the sea . the next year the company had the sea witch built which set a speed record from china to new york which still stands . 10 clipper ships sacrificed cargo capacity for speed but in some markets the fast service allowed their owners to charge premium rates tea from china tasted better if it was fresh so the cargo on the first ship of the season to arrive in new york was worth more . also faster speed meant that the vessel could complete more voyages in a given time period which also helped make up for the diminished cargo capacity . when in 1850 the pacific mail steamship company established a competing line to the u.s. mail steamship company between new york and chagres george law placed an opposition pacific line of steamers ss antelope ss columbus ss isthmus ss republic in the pacific running from panama to san francisco . in april 1851 the rivalry was ended when an agreement was made between the companies the u.s. mail steamship company purchased the pacific mail steamers on the atlantic side ss crescent city ss empire city ss philadelphia and george law sold his ships and new line to the pacific mail . by 1850 pacific mail maintained a monopoly over the panama oregon trade helped by the purchase of two steamers from empire city line . large numbers of prospective gold miners paying for passage to california had meant that by 1850 the capital of pacific mail had increased from 400 000 to over 2 million . pacific mail also ordered four new ships designed to meet the needs of trade to and from california and opened ship depots at panama city and benicia california . aspinwall invested in the panama railroad company which would replace old wagon trails across the isthmus cutting travel time from four days to four hours . in 1852 george law went into partnership with aspinwall and developed its eastern terminal next to the wharf at aspinwall columbia then sold his interest in 1853 . this line was completed in 1855 and coordination between steamships and this line meant the travel time from san francisco to new york was cut to 21 days . in 1856 aspinwall retired from the position of president of the pacific mail company with the former secretary william h. davidge taking the presidency . under his control the company s capital doubled to 4 million but the major turning point of his presidency of the company was in 1858 when pacific mail s contract with the government expired . however at the same time the contract of the u.s. mail steamship company also expired . this company had been providing the ships for the new york to panama route and went out of business in 1859 . a through service was deemed necessary and profitable and the company bought three new ships the ss adriatic ss atlantic and ss baltic all of which had formerly belonged to collins line . however competition from the other atlantic steamship lines was fierce and within a few years the route on the atlantic side was pulled . 6 8 during the civil war 1861 1865 pacific mail used its steamers to transport gold to the east coast to support the northern cause . the company also received the ss colorado launched from the same shipyard as the ss california . by the end of the war 1865 under the new presidency pacific mail purchased its competitor atlantic mail steamship company which at this point was providing service from new york to the isthmus . this in turn meant that at last pacific mail was able to provide complete service from new york to the west coast via the isthmus without competition . 8 ss golden city one of the company s ships in the late 1860s . in 1866 the u.s. government awarded the first mail contract of 500 000 per annum between san francisco and the far east namely hong kong via japan and the sandwich islands later known as the hawaiian islands to pacific mail . the ss colorado was pulled from the original new york san francisco route to be used on the new route from san francisco to china and japan . the colorado was outfitted with a mizzen mast and more coal storage for the voyage and in 1867 became the first steamship to run a regular service across the pacific ocean running from san francisco to yokohama japan and onward to hong kong . pacific mail also ordered four new ships to run on this route the ss china ss japan ss great republic and ss america . these ships were ordered at a cost of 1 million and the capital of the company was increased to 20 million to cover this cost . 6 8 9 by 1867 the company was running four different lines the atlantic line between new york and aspinwall panama . this ran thrice monthly . the pacific line which linked with the atlantic line which ran between panama and san francisco stopping at acapulco and manzanillo . this route also ran thrice monthly except for the latter which ran once monthly . the china line between san francisco and hong kong stopping at yokohama . this ran once monthly . this linked with the pacific line . the shanghai line which ran between yokohama and shanghai via nagasaki . this also ran once monthly linking with the china line . ss mongolia one of pacific mail s fastest and largest ships depicted on an advertisement for the company s trans pacific service . through these links freight could be moved from new york to yokohama in 42 days to shanghai in 47 days and hong kong in 50 days including all detentions . in this same year the company owned 25 ships with a combined tonnage of 61 474 tons . 6 in 1869 the completion of the transcontinental railroad meant that the passenger traffic on the panama route declined . however in 1872 the u.s. government doubled the subsidy on mail transported by pacific mail although it required the doubling of service and the modernization of the fleet . therefore in 1873 pacific mail took delivery of the first of 11 iron hulled screw powered steamships the city of peking . in 1875 william henry aspinwall died on january 18 at the age of 68 but pacific mail continued on and soon began service to australia and new zealand . 8 11 during the 1880s pacific mail modernized its ships with steel hulls replacing the old iron vessels and installed electric lighting by thomas edison on the ss columbia making it the first ship to have electrical power in the world . in 1893 the southern pacific co. acquired control over the pacific mail . in 1902 pacific mail launched the ss korea and ss siberia which were its first steel hulled ships followed by ss manchuria and ss mongolia in 1904 . these ships were the largest and fastest passenger freight ships in the pacific the latter two measuring more than 13 600 gross tons larger than any other ship the company owned at the time . 5 8 11 12 in 1912 congress banned ships owned by railroads from using the panama canal and so pacific mail was sold to w. r. grace and company where it operated as a subsidiary from 1916 till 1925 when the company s trans pacific fleet was bought over by the dollar shipping company for 5 625 000 in cash . 13 dollar shipping company edit meanwhile captain robert dollar purchased his first ship marking the beginning of his shipping empire . dollar was born in falkirk scotland in 1844 moving to canada at the age of 11 where he worked in a lumber camp . following this in 1893 he purchased his own sawmill on the pacific coast . however due to unreliable shipping timetables he found it hard to ship his lumber from the pacific northwest down the coast towards california . hence in 1893 8 14 dollar bought a 120 foot 37 m steam schooner called newsboy . this led to the establishment of the dollar steamship company commonly known as dollar line on august 12 1900 which soon grew to have a large fleet of schooners transporting lumber to market . 5 8 11 14 mae dollar in 1902 dollar sailed to asia for the first time