Newsletter
Archival Item
2009.23.1
Front cover is blue and features blueprint type drawings of machinery and equipment. Cover reads: Our Transportation Development/ Progress Report/ White Pass & Yukon Route".
Inside cover page reads "The White Pass/ Container Route/ News/ Vol. IX No.4 Whitehorse, Yukon June 1965/ In this Issue/ A Preview of the New White Pass Container Route/ and a Brief Explanation of the Services that Each New Facility Will Provide"
Provides a history and chronology of the White Pass & Yukon Route with emphasis on the development of containerization. Includes illustrations of containers and map of White Pass freight operations in B.C. and Yukon.
Inside cover page reads "The White Pass/ Container Route/ News/ Vol. IX No.4 Whitehorse, Yukon June 1965/ In this Issue/ A Preview of the New White Pass Container Route/ and a Brief Explanation of the Services that Each New Facility Will Provide"
Provides a history and chronology of the White Pass & Yukon Route with emphasis on the development of containerization. Includes illustrations of containers and map of White Pass freight operations in B.C. and Yukon.
Publication: Newsletter of the White Pass & Yukon Route Company, bound by two staples in magazine format.
In 1954, the White Pass & Yukon Route (WP&YR) proposed a new $8M container system to streamline their freight business with the development of containers that could transfer easily from train or truck to ship, and vice versa.
In 1955, WP&YR Co. pioneered, built and put into service the first 'container ship'. The 4000 ton Clifford J. Rogers was designed and built in a Montreal shipyard to transport these metal containers filled with cargo or ore. The containers were delivered to the wharf by train (later by truck), loaded onto the ship with cranes, taken to their destination, and returned filled with cargo in-bound to Yukon. This greatly improved efficiency, and was so successful that it remains the main method of shipping today.
(From newsletter)
According to Wikipedia, the first container ships were built in Denmark in 1951, more or less contemporaneous with the start of container shipping between Seattle and Alaska. However, it was definitely WP&YR which made the breakthrough in the technology in 1955, with the purpose-built Rogers, as well as the supporting rail and loading equipment also purpose-built to handle the containers.
Dickson Sladden, assistant manager of the White Pass & Yukon Route Ocean Division, was on the Vancouver dock in November 1955 when the Clifford J. Rogers was loaded with containerized cargo for its maiden voyage. Incidentally, the cargo containers on the maiden voyage of the Clifford J. Rogers were filled with beer heading to the Yukon. The American modified oil freighter sometimes cited as the first containerized ship was not launched for another four months.
In 1955, WP&YR Co. pioneered, built and put into service the first 'container ship'. The 4000 ton Clifford J. Rogers was designed and built in a Montreal shipyard to transport these metal containers filled with cargo or ore. The containers were delivered to the wharf by train (later by truck), loaded onto the ship with cranes, taken to their destination, and returned filled with cargo in-bound to Yukon. This greatly improved efficiency, and was so successful that it remains the main method of shipping today.
(From newsletter)
According to Wikipedia, the first container ships were built in Denmark in 1951, more or less contemporaneous with the start of container shipping between Seattle and Alaska. However, it was definitely WP&YR which made the breakthrough in the technology in 1955, with the purpose-built Rogers, as well as the supporting rail and loading equipment also purpose-built to handle the containers.
Dickson Sladden, assistant manager of the White Pass & Yukon Route Ocean Division, was on the Vancouver dock in November 1955 when the Clifford J. Rogers was loaded with containerized cargo for its maiden voyage. Incidentally, the cargo containers on the maiden voyage of the Clifford J. Rogers were filled with beer heading to the Yukon. The American modified oil freighter sometimes cited as the first containerized ship was not launched for another four months.