Where We Came From & Where We Are Going: Part 1

 

   The history of our origin is vital to understanding where we are going. Let’s go back to the historic days of the Mayflower when the American entrepreneurial spirit was born; back to when John Howland, the patriarch of his family and one of the 41 signers of the Mayflower Compact, first touched American soil. Although the family has been prominent for centuries, they have a quiet way of doing what needs to be done, without ever asking for credit or calling attention to their actions. Generation after generation passed down their passion for expansion, building the nation, and the desire to better their world.


    One such ancestor was Gardinier Howland. Together with his partner Samuel Aspinwall, they built the first clipper ships, Rainbow and Sea Witch, and started the family's love of shipping. Their firm also built the Panama Railroad, which eventually became the Panama Canal. 


    Moses Taylor, another relative, also owned his own fleet of clipper ships, and either wholly owned or controlled National City Bank (the original financier of Mr. Rockefeller’s companies), the Farmers Trust Company (what is today Citibank), Lackawanna Steel, the B&O and Lackawanna Railroads, and 25% of Con Edison.  Percy Rivington Pyne, another man of immense passion and capability, became Moses Taylor’s partner and married Taylor’s daughter. Percy became a famous merchant and banker in his own right. His sons, Percy, and Moses T. Pyne each were well known. Percy, the son, cornered the sugar market and Moses Taylor Pyne was a lifetime trustee of the Trustees of Princeton. Moses made his life’s work sustaining and building Princeton University, his alma mater.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Does Decreasing Boxcar Fleet Mean for U.S. Capacity?

Image
What Does Decreasing Boxcar Fleet Mean for U.S. Capacity? Blog  / By  Green Shipping Line Box cars are an aging technology that is still relied upon by many shippers. Steve Raetz, from the  Transportfolio blog , described in depth the situation in his recent post. Here’s a portion of the article: The story of the disappearing boxcars seems to be one that is best understood through the data and in the eyes of individual shippers and the industries that leverage these assets. The current boxcar fleet consists of 115,000 cars; 65,276 boxcars will retire over the next 15 years. But new technologies, such as newer boxcars with higher freight capacities, are slowly replacing the older versions. At the same time, this isn’t an absolute solution; older infrastructure can’t handle the larger freight cars, especially in the northeast. Railroads own more than 75% of all boxcars; the average age of these boxcars is close to 30 years. Privately-owned boxcars account for 22% of the mar...
Read more

Have you ever heard of the American Maritime Highway?

Image
Have you ever heard of the American Maritime Highway? Everyone has heard of and likely traveled on highways in a car or a bus or received goods along these highways, but the American Maritime Highway is a widely untouched network when it comes to transportation.  The vast network of highways on land is used with reckless abandon, and because of this, various greenhouse gasses are released into the atmosphere on a daily basis, damaging the air and furthering the problem of pollution in the United States. Every day, these highways are used to transport people and goods; companies like Amazon, Walmart, Publix, etc., transport goods along these highways, utilizing automobiles and highways. “However, America's waterways are underused. The benefits of using our marine waterways -- such as reducing landside congestion and reducing system wear and tear -- are not perceived on an individual level. Using our waterways more consistently would create more public benefits and incentivize shippe...
Read more