Every week, FreightWaves explores the archives of American Shipper’s nearly 70-year-old collection of shipping and maritime publications to showcase interesting freight stories of way back.
This text comes from the June 1975 issue of American Shipper and shows a brand new tackle maritime service on the time, showcasing a novel cargo design and starting service between the Mediterranean and United States’ East Coast.
Recent S/S Italica completes maiden voyage to States
The S/S Italica, the Italian Line’s latest container ship, received the normal harbor welcome from tugboats and fireboats as she arrived in Recent York, May 7, on her maiden voyage to the USA. Her first U.S. port of call had been Jacksonville on May 5.
The 680 ft. Italica, along along with her sistership S/S Americana, will provide fortnightly service on the Italian Line’s service between the U.S. East Coast and Mediterranean ports.
Just like the Americana, which entered service last December, the Italica was designed to accommodate not only containerized cargo, but in addition liquid cargo, odd-sized heavy cargo, and every kind of vehicles. Since the Americana and Italica are among the many first ships on the planet to hold every type of cargo with their “4 ships in a single” design, they’ve attracted widespread attention within the shipping industry.
The Italica, captained by Vittoria Sartori, left Genoa on April 26 for her maiden voyage, arriving in Jacksonville on May 5. She sailed from Recent York late on May 7, Baltimore on May 9, and Portsmouth, Va. on May 10, after which headed for the Mediterranean ports of Valencia and Barcelona in Spain, Marseille in France, and Leghorn and Genoa, Italy, arriving in Genoa on May 23.
14-day turnaround
With a turnaround of only five days on the loading and discharge ports within the U.S., the Italica and the Americana permit the Italian Line to operate its transatlantic service on a hard and fast 14-day schedule.
The 2 ships each have a deadweight tonnage of 23,280 and a cruising speed of 23.5 knots. They’ve a container capability of 1,079 20-foot equivalents. The majority liquid space totals almost 40,000 cubic feet. Each ship has Ro/Ro space to accommodate 350 automobiles and other roll-on seven decks, 4 of that are movable, with a complete of 159,000 cubic feet. Two hatches for LoLo cargo are served by a 50-ton Stulcken boom and have a capability of 166,000 cubic feet.
General agents for the Italian Line cargo service are the Italian Line Steamship Agency, Inc. at 17 Battery Place North, Recent York City, headed by Anthony P. Mennella. Harrington & Company is the Jacksonville agent.