Lykes Brothers Steamship Company
Encyclopedia
Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., also called Lykes Lines, was a cargo shipping company acting from the beginning of the 20th century to 2005 having its main business in the trade to and from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
History
In 1900 the sons of Dr. Howell Tyson Lykes started a shipping business by using a 109-foot, 75 ton three-masted schoonerSchooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
to ship cattle to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
as a replacement for herds which were wiped out in the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
. The tradition of naming their ships after family members dates back to that time, when this schooner was named Doctor Lykes after their father. Three years later, an office was opened in Galveston, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and Lykes began offering general cargo transportation between the US Gulf and Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
ports.
In 1922 the Lykes Bros. Steamship Co. was set up as a separate company, owned by the Lykes Brothers
Lykes Brothers
Lykes Brothers, Inc., is a Florida corporation founded by the Lykes Family of Tampa, Florida, in 1910. This family would become the largest landowner in Florida, the 9th largest landowner in the United States and the wealthiest in Tampa Bay.In the 1870s Dr...
. The seven brothers had been trading cotton, lumber and grain for years so owning their own ships was a natural extension of their operations. During the 1920s Lykes began to range beyond the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
and Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. Offices were opened in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and routes were extended to the Mediterranean and Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
.
The 1930s saw Lykes acquiring 52 ships from Dixie and Southern States Lines, giving them a fleet of 67 ships. After passage of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936
Merchant Marine Act of 1936
The Merchant Marine Act of 1936 is a United States federal law. Its purpose is "to further the development and maintenance of an adequate and well-balanced American merchant marine, to promote the commerce of the United States, to aid in the national defense, to repeal certain former legislation,...
, they committed themselves to the replacement of their fleet with modern freighters. Sixteen had been delivered by December 1941, when the US entered World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. During the war, Lykes carried 60 million tons of cargo and operated a maximum of 125 cargo ships for the government. 22 ships were lost along with 272 lives.
During the postwar years, Lykes returned to commercial activity. By the 1950s, it had a fleet of 54 ships totaling 568,978 deadweight tons. That fleet underwent a complete replacement between 1960 and 1973, when 41 new ships were built.
By then, Lykes steamship had become a subsidiary of Lykes Corp., which in 1978 merged with LTV Corp. In 1983 Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., Inc. was purchased by Interocean Steamship Corp., a Florida corporation whose stockholders included descendants of the original seven Lykes brothers.
With the start of containerization
Containerization
Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...
, Lykes was soon participating, becoming a container carrier in the trade lanes of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
East and Gulf coasts, North Europe, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the Mediterranean region, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. Being registered in the U.S., the company had the privilege of being allowed to transport cargo for the U.S. Army
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
In December 1994 the company moved its headquarters from New Orleans, LA to Tampa, FL (to the former First Florida Tower (currently the Park Tower
Park Tower (Tampa, Florida)
Park Tower is a skyscraper located in downtown Tampa, Florida. It is the second-oldest high-rise building in the current Tampa skyline. When the building was finished in November 1973, it was the tallest in Tampa, and the third-tallest in all of Florida, at 460 feet...
) at 400 North Tampa Street). The general offices were later moved to the SunTrust Tower at 401 East Jackson Street in Tampa. In October 1995, the company filed for chapter 11 reorganization. On February 24, 1997, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Alexander Paskay approved a bid by CP Ships
CP Ships
CP Ships was a large Canadian container shipping company, prior to being taken over by Hapag Lloyd in late 2005. CP Ships had its head office in the City of Westminster in London and later in the City Place Gatwick development on the property of London Gatwick Airport in Crawley, West Sussex.The...
, Ltd. to buy Lykes Brothers Steamship Co. In the following years, CP Ships integrated the services of Ivaran Lines
Ivaran Lines
Ivarans Rederi AS was a merchant steamship company founded in Norway by Ivar Anton Christensen in 1902.The flag was red with a white "C" in the middle, for the founder's family name: Christensen ....
which they bought up in May 1998 and Christensen Canadian African Lines
Christensen Canadian African Lines
Christensen Canadian African Lines was a Norwegian cargo shipping company that traded between Canada and Africa between 1948 and 2000.-History:...
(CCAL) which was acquired in August 2000 into the Lykes Lines brand.
In late 2005 the Lykes Lines brand was replaced by the CP Ships brand following CP's one brand strategy promoted by the "One brand - One team" project. CP Ships itself was bought up by TUI AG
TUI AG
TUI AG is a German multinational travel and tourism company headquartered in Hanover. Until 2001 it was an industrial and transportation company named Preussag AG, which in the mid-1990s decided to reinvent itself as a tourism, shipping, and logistics company...
and merged in mid 2006 in the Hapag-Lloyd
Hapag-Lloyd
Hapag-Lloyd is a German transportation company comprising a cargo container shipping line, Hapag-Lloyd AG, which in turn owns other subsidiaries such as Hapag-Lloyd Ships and a cruise line, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises which is now integrated into TUI AG, Hanover...
organization.
Awards
- IFW Shipping Line of the Year award
- CIFFA award for Best Service to Africa
- Lloyd's Loading List award for Fastest Transit Times on the North Atlantic
In literature
John McPheeJohn McPhee
John Angus McPhee is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, widely considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction....
's Looking for a Ship (1990), a report on the state of the US Merchant Marine, centers on a South American voyage on the Lykes Brothers freighter Stella Lykes.
The shipping company is referred to in the Tom Clancy novel Red Storm Rising
Red Storm Rising
Red Storm Rising is a 1986 techno-thriller novel by Tom Clancy and Larry Bond about a Third World War in Europe between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces, set around the mid-1980s...
.
International identifiers
SCAC CodeStandard Carrier Alpha Codes
The Standard Carrier Alpha Code is a unique code used to identify transportation companies. It is typically two to four alphabetic letters long...
: LYKL
Operator Code: LYK
BIC Codes (Container prefixes): LYKU, LYTU
Vessels
- SS Cape MohicanSS Cape Mohican (T-AKR-5065)The SS Cape Mohican is a sea barge heavy lift ship in the service of the Military Sealift Command .She was laid down on 15 July 1971 as Tillie Lykes under Maritime Administration contract at General Dynamics Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 23 September 1972 and delivered on...
- SS West CobaltSS Empire MiniverThe SS Empire Miniver was a British steam merchant ship. She was originally an American merchant, launched in 1918 as SS West Cobalt. During a brief stint in the United States Navy in 1919, she was known as USS West Cobalt ....
- USS HamulUSS Hamul (AD-20)USS Hamul was the lead ship of a class of two destroyer tenders; she was most likely named after Hamal, the brightest star in the constellation Aries....
- USS LenoirUSS Lenoir (AKA-74)USS Lenoir was a named after Lenoir County, North Carolina and the distant City of Lenoir, North Carolina, which are both named for the patriot William Lenoir. Like all AKAs, Lenoir was designed to carry military cargo and landing craft, and to use the latter to land weapons, supplies, and...
- USS LibraUSS Libra (AKA-12)USS Libra was an named after the constellation Libra. She served as a commissioned ship for 11 years.Libra was laid down as Jean Lykes by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, N.J., under contract for Lykes Brothers Steamship Company, Galveston, Texas; launched 12 November 1941;...
- USS PolluxUSS Pollux (AKS-4)USS Pollux was a Castor-class general stores issue ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II. She was responsible for delivering and disbursing goods and equipment to locations in the war zone....
- USS ValenciaUSS Valencia (AKA-81)USS Valencia was a of the United States Navy named after Valencia County, New Mexico. She was designed to carry military cargo and landing craft, and to use the latter to land weapons, supplies, and Marines on enemy shores during amphibious operations...
Lykes also used LASH (Lighter aboard ship
Lighter Aboard Ship
The lighter aboard ship system refers to the practice of loading barges aboard a larger vessel for transport. It was developed in response to a need to transport lighters, a type of unpowered barge, between inland waterways separated by open seas...
) vessels.
External links
- Maritime Timetable images (Collection of old company brochures)