The Luckenbach Steamship Company is one of America’s longest run and successful shipping companies. The company began as a towing service for boats on the Hudson River in New York, employing tugboats from 1850 until it became a shipping company later on. Lewis (Ludwig) Luckenbach began to make his fortune by beginning to transport coal from Norfolk, Virginia and bringing it to New England. Eventually Luckenbach became a major player in the intercoastal trade routes of the Eastern US.
Between 1960 and 1970 the company was reorganized under the leadership of Edgar F. Luckenbach, Jr., transferring the ships of the intercoastal trade routes to international shipping routes. The company came to an end in 1974, but not before Luckenbach Steamship Company and its affiliates served more than 150 ship-owning principals and their boats on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
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