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Mississippi Shipping Company (also called Delta Line) of New Orleans, Louisiana was a passenger and cargo steamship company founded in 1919. In 1961 officially changed its name to the Delta Line. The Mississippi Shipping Co. serviced port from the Gulf of Mexico and east coast of South America. The Mississippi Shipping Co. was formed to support coffee merchants and Brazilian produce to New Orleans and up the Mississippi River. competing with the New York City trade. Delta Line failed to upgrade to container ships and modernize as other shipping lines did in the 1970s. In 1982, Delta Line, now owned by the Holiday Inn Corporation sold the line to Crowley Maritime. Crowley was the largest US barge and tugboat operator at the time. Crowley started to modernize the ships on the route, but sold the shipping line to the United States Lines in 1985. United States Lines brought some of the ships into its routes but went bankrupt in 1986. At its peak in 1949, the Mississippi-Delta line owned 14 ships with a total of 98,000 gross register tonnage. Delta Line also moved into passenger cruise with to ship.[clarification needed] During World War II the Mississippi Shipping Company was active with charter shipping with the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration. During wartime, the Mississippi Shipping Company operated Victory ships, Liberty ships, and a few Empire ships.[1][2][3][4]
| Industry | Maritime transport |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1919 |
| Defunct | 1982 |
| Successor | Crowley Maritime |
| Headquarters | Seattle, Washington |
Area served | Gulf of Mexico, South America and cargo only West Africa |
| Services | Cargo and Passengers Liners |
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- Routes from 1919 to 1967.[5]
- US Ports:New Orleans and Houston
- South America: Saint Thomas, Barbados, Curaçao, Rio de Janeiro, Santo, Brazil, Paranaguá, Montevideo, Buenos Aires
- Routes from 1978 to 1982:
- Vancouver, Tacoma, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Manzanillo, Balboa, Panama Canal, Cartagena, Puerto Cabello, La Guaira, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Paranagua/Rio Grande (optional), Buenos Aires, Strait of Magellan, Valparaiso, Callao, Guayaquil, Buenaventura, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Tacoma. Seansonal port:Curaçao, Aruba, Recife, Montevideo, Antofagasta and Corinto.
- Starting in 1961 West Africa cargo routes to:
- Angol, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Congo.[6]
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- The three "Del" cruise ships, designed by naval architect George G. Sharp of New York, Type C3-class ship hull with a custom design. Built at Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi at $7,000,000 each. Completed in 1946 and 1947, the three had new commercial radar. Delta Line (Mississippi) had two departures per month from Gulf of Mexico ports to the Caribbean and South America. Passenger cruise service ended in 1967 and the ships were converted to cargo. In 1975 the three were scrapped in Indonesia.[7][8]
- SS Del Norte
- SS Del Sud
- SS Del Mar
- SS Delmundo, a 1919 cargo ship torpedoed in 1942 by U-600 and sank off Cuba, eight crew were killed.[9]
- SS Delbrasil
- SS Delorleans
- SS Deltargentino
- SS Del Uruguay, taken over by the US Navy during construction, became USS Charles Carroll (APA-28) in 1942
- SS Delvalle, sunk by U-154 in April 1942
Other ships
- SS Agawam
- SS Coastal Observer
- SS Irish Oak, a 1919 cargo ship, Mississippi Shipping Company owned 1928–1933.
- SS Del Santos, for six months in 1942, became USS Thurston
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Starting in 1978 to 1984 operated four "Santa" ships: All four C4-S1-49a ship were sold to Crowley Maritime in 1984. All four were purchased from the Grace Line - Prudential Lines by Delta Line. Built in 1963 at Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard. All were scrapped in 1988.[10][11][12]
World War 2 Maritime ships:
- SS Aiken Victory[17]
- SS Bluefield Victory
- SS Brazil Victory[18]
- SS Benjamin Contee
- SS Carthage Victory [19]
- SS Charles Henderson
- SS Cuba Victory
- SS Luray Victory
- SS Oshkosh Victory[20]
- SS Ouachita Victory
- SS Tulane Victory[21]
- SS Josiah Parker[22]
- SS Robert M. La Follette[23]
- SS Clarence King[24]
- SS Harriet Monroe[25]
- SS Murray M. Blum[26]
- SS John A. Roebling[27]
- Empire Shearwater[28]
- USS Thurston
- SS West Kasson
- SS Union Victory (Korean War operator)
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