50 Years Ago

The lead article in The Motor Ship, October 1968, concerned using crude oil as a ship fuel. The motivation came from some tanker owners, operating in isolated locations without normal bunkering facilities.

Proof that, 50 years ago, Britain still regarded its shipbuilding industry as significant was evident in a full-page message in a prominent position in the January 1965 issue of The Motor Ship,…

Although, as we know, transport by sea of gaseous cargoes is far from new, it may seem surprising that commercial international shipping of LNG began exactly 50 years ago.

Big news back in October 1964 was that the first licence for building high power Diesel engines in the US had been awarded by Sulzer Bros to Nordberg Manufacturing.

The September 1964 issue of The Motor Ship led with news that a US company was to build a European-designed large marine Diesel engine. This may not seem a particularly newsworthy story…

The big news in ‘The Motor Ship’, August 1964, was the US nuclear powered merchant ship, ‘Savannah’ undertaking its first voyages, including visiting several European ports.

Such is today’s focus on alternative fuels that it seemed slightly odd to see that the same subject was a hot topic back in 1964.