Weyerhaeuser Steamship Company

Weyerhaeuser Steamship Company was a cargo Liner company founded in Tacoma, Washington. Weyerhaeuser Steamship Company was founded by Weyerhaeuser Company in 1933. Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest lumber and paper companies in the United States. First called the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company which started with ships for towing logs in the Northwestern United States. Weyerhaeuser started Weyerhaeuser Timber Company with a ship he acquired in 1892. The log towing ship was a 140-foot sternwheeler built for the partnership, Weyerhaeuser and Denkman Company. In 1923 Weyerhaeuser added to ocean lumber cargo ship the SS Pomona and the SS Hanley. The two ships took lumber to the East Coast. In 1933 F. Weyerhaeuser starts the Weyerhaeuser Steamship Company and moves the headquarters to Newark, New Jersey. At the outbreak of World War II the US government orders the four Weyerhaeuser to take supplies to the British army in Egypt. The next year the other four company's ships are requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration. During World War II the Weyerhaeuser Steamship Company was active in charter shipping with the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration. During wartime, the Weyerhaeuser Steamship Company operated Victory ships and Liberty ships. The ship was run by its crew and the US Navy supplied United States Navy Armed Guards to man the deck guns and radio. The most common armament mounted on these merchant ships were the MK II 20mm Oerlikon autocannon and the 3"/50, 4"/50, and 5"/38 deck guns.^[1][2] In 1942 the SS Potlatch and the SS Heffron were sunk by German U-boats torpedoes. After the war, Weyerhaeuser Steamship Company purchased four Liberty ships for intercoastal shipping service. In 1950 Weyerhaeuser Steamship Company purchases the Pacific Coast Direct Line and moves its headquarter from Newark to San Francisco. In 1962 the Weyerhaeuser Line is started and Weyerhaeuser Steamship becomes a division of Weyerhaeuser Company.^[3][4]

In 1962 many trees fell due to the Columbus Day Storm of 1962, Weyerhaeuser Steamship Company charter ships to take the surplus of lumber Japan. Ships are chartered to carry finished forest products to Australia (the first Weyerhaeuser transportation of finished products to a foreign market). In 1964 Weyerhaeuser Steamship Company expands with service to Australia, In 1967 charter "M" ships from Hoegh take lumber products to Europe. Weyerhaeuser Line headquarters moves to Tacoma in 1966.^[5] By 1969 all the post Liberty ships purchased by Weyerhaeuser Steamship Company were sold and some shipping moved to charter ships.

In 1975 Weyerhaeuser contracted with Leif Höegh & Co to have built six new second generation of Container "M" ships with open-hatch and gantry-crane transport lumber to Europe, ships are delivered in 1977. Weyerhaeuser added two new "J" ships to transport newsprint from the new mill that is joint venture between Weyerhaeuser and Jujo of Tokyo at Longview, British Columbia.

In 1982 Weyerhaeuser Steamship Company's name is changed to Westwood Shipping Lines, the Lines also enters in to a joint venture with Hoegh, with transpacific container shipping. Weyerhaeuser sells its Westwood Shipping Lines to J-WeSco for $53 million. J-WesCo, is a subsidiary of Sumitomo Warehouse in Japan. At the time of the sale Westwood Shipping Lines had a fleet of seven ships, with ports of call in North America, Japan, Korea and China. Westwood Shipping Lines main cargo to Aisa is newsprint, lumber, pulp and agricultural products. Returning to the US the fleet transports automotive parts, motorcycles, parts for Boeing airplanes, outboard engines, tires and heavy cargo like generators.^[3][6]