Shipping Magnate
In 1895, he acquired his first vessel, a single steam schooner called Newsboy, to move his lumber from the Pacific Northwest to markets down the coast. Thus began his entry into the shipping industry that included lumber, commodities, mail, and passengers. In the process he became a San Francisco shipping magnate who entered the lumber trade in Canada. In 1903, Robert and his three sons incorporated their interests into the Robert Dollar Company. In 1910, Dollar built an 11-story office building in San Francisco, headquarters of the Dollar Steamship Company, which was expanded in 1919. During the inter-war years, his freighters plied the Pacific and were a common sight from Canada to Canton, San Francisco to Shanghai, and Tacoma to Tokyo.
In 1923, the purchase of seven "president" ships owned by the U.S. Government allowed Dollar, at the age of 80, to pioneer his successful round-the-world passenger service. Pacific Mails, a U.S. company going back to the 1850s with the Panama-California and trans-Pacific routes, was taken over by Dollar in 1925 that added 8 more ships, and he also signed a contract with Grace Steamship Company.
The death of the founder in 1932, coupled with the Great Depression and the Pacific War, headed the company into bankruptcy. In 1937, under the control of Robert Dollar’s sons, Dollar Lines was bankrupt. Back taxes could not be paid and in an agreement Stanley Dollar turned 93% of the voting common stock over to the Maritime Commission.
In 1945, Stanley Dollar filed a lawsuit to recover ownership of the line. The battle raged until 1950 when the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Stanley Dollar. The government had other plans and did not return the company. There was a cash settlement as 7% was retaied by Stanley. In 1952, a group of investors, led by Ralph K. Davies, purchased the company for $18,000,000. Its name was shortened to APL in 1988. In 1997, APL merged with Singapore-based NOL, and as of 2006, 68% of NOL was owned by Temasek Holdings.
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Famous quotes containing the word shipping:
“I need not tell you of the inadequacy of the American shipping marine on the Pacific Coast.... For this reason it seems to me that there is no subject to which Congress can better devote its attention in the coming session than the passage of a bill which shall encourage our merchant marine in such a way as to establish American lines directly between New York and the eastern ports and South American ports, and both our Pacific Coast ports and the Orient and the Philippines.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)