This year marks the 110th anniversary of the founding of a well-known American shipping company that no longer exists and also the 40th anniversary of its demise. New York-headquartered Moore-McCormack Lines (Mormac) was established by Albert V. Moore and Emmet J. McCormack in 1913 and 70 years later was sold to McLean Securities, the parent company of United States Lines, which had earlier been acquired by Sea-Land Service founder Malcolm McLean. At the time of its sale, Mormac was owned by Stamford, Connecticut based Moore McCormack Resources and was operating 13 cargo liners on trade routes between North America, South America and Africa. The company had initiated service to Brazil prior to America’s entry into World War I and by 1918 was operating 15 sailings annually to both Brazil and Argentina.
Following the armistice, Mormac entered into a number of operating agreements for surplus US government-owned tonnage and took over management of the United States Shipping Board’s American Scantic Line, which served Scandinavian and Baltic Sea ports.
Mormac eventually purchased the Line and its six ships in 1927, after which it extended service to Russian and Polish ports. It, , and , converted into the combination passenger/cargo liners , , and , each with accommodation for 72 one-class passengers.
