This page contain information copyrighted by other individuals and entities. Copyrighted material displayed in this page is done so for archival purposes only and is not intended to infringe upon the ownership rights of the original owners.
Alaska Maritime Agencies (ID: 3068)
Page 1 of 1 [Back to companies list]
General Steamship Agencies (GSA) is the premier independently owned, non-liner vessel agency in North America. Stretching from Dutch Harbor, Alaska to Stamford, Connecticut, GSA has the largest office network of any tramp agency company on the continent. For various historical reasons, our company is divided geographically into three sister companies that operate under the GSA umbrella. The companies and their areas of coverage are as follows: ALASKA MARITIME AGENCIES Coverage: All of Alaska Headquarters: Seattle EMPIRE SHIPPING AGENCIES Coverage: All of British Columbia Headquarters: Vancouver B.C. GENERAL STEAMSHIP CORP. Coverage: The contiguous United States Headquarters: San Francisco(Mill Valley) General Steamship Agencies is an independent, U.S. owned company that has no affiliation with any carrier or shipper. Our core business is vessel husbandry, and in order to avoid conflicts of interest, we do not solicit tramp cargo or broker space. In an effort to enhance the flow of information between our offices, GSA has had an internal email system in place since 1988, and we upgrade our communication devices on a regular basis to take advantage of the latest technologies. We are also a very politically active company believing that as ship agents, it is our responsibility to help maintain a healthy business and regulatory environment for our customers. General Steamship management has long believed that the key to success in the ship agency business is diversification. To that end, we have expanded our geographical coverage and our customer base so that the company as a whole is not held hostage by an economic downturn in one particular area or one particular business sector. As such, we have a worldwide customer base (a mix of both owners and charterers) that sends us ships of all types and sizes carrying almost all commodities imported and exported by vessel to or from North America. In addition to our core business of vessel husbandry, General Steamship will from time to time also invest in other maritime enterprises. We are currently affiliated with a tariff publication house in Oakland (Distribution Publications, Inc.) and a stevedore/terminal operating company in Vancouver B.C. (Western Stevedoring, Inc. who operates Lynnterm Terminal). ALASKA MARITIME AGENCIES Founded in 1956, three years prior to Alaska statehood, Alaska Maritime Agencies serves owners and operators of cargo and passenger vessels calling at any point along the 47,000 miles of Alaskan coastline. With operating offices located at Anchorage, Kenai, Seward, Valdez, Dutch Harbor, and Ketchikan, Alaska Maritime employs about 35 full time staff plus various resident agents. The Seattle headquarters for Alaska Maritime Agencies houses management, accounting and documentation departments. Although commercial documentation for our Alaska ships can be done at any of our offices nationwide, most Bills of Lading are cut in our Seattle office for the convenience of Seattle based shippers. Since the export of natural resources is the prime mover of cargo in Alaska, our agents are very familiar with a variety of cargo and vessel types. These include bulk carriers transporting urea, coal, zinc and lead concentrates; reefer vessels carrying seafood; tankers carrying crude oil, refined product, ammonia and LNG and log ships carrying round logs and lumber. As the importance of tourism to the Alaskan economy has increased over the years, so too has our involvement with the passenger cruise ship industry. As such, Alaska Maritime is well diversified and a major participant in the Alaskan shipping industry. EMPIRE SHIPPING AGENCY LTD. The Vancouver B.C. office of Empire Shipping Agency is somewhat unique in that it is both headquarters and the single operating office for the company. As such, it has a full compliment of accounting personnel, five operations agents and the company officers. Established in 1921, Empire shipping handled a remarkable 527 vessel calls in 1997 although a more normal volume is probably closer to 450. Much of this activity is coal and grain related, but this office also handles log ships, tankers, breakbulk vessels and various ore ships calling on all ports up and down the B.C. coast. The president of the company, Claus Hendriksen, began his career in the shipping industry in 1967 and has been with Empire since 1975. GENERAL STEAMSHIP CORPORATION General Steamship Corporation Ltd. was founded in 1920 and operated solely on the West Coast of the United States for many years handling both liner and tramp ships. With the advent of containerization in the mid-1960's, GenSteam also represented container lines to some extent. However, that activity ended in 1985 when a strategic decision was made to leave the increasingly unprofitable container agency business and concentrate strictly on vessel husbanding operations. Since then we have broadened our operating network and become a nationwide company. Depending on the location, our agents are familiar with reefer ships carrying fruit into Philadelphia, Seattle and Port Hueneme; bulk carriers transporting grain from the U.S. Gulf and the Columbia River; tankers carrying petroleum products into almost all ports; car carriers; breakbulk carriers and cruise ships... just to name a few. With eleven offices in the contiguous U.S., General Steamship Corp. covers the entire U.S. coastline and will travel as required in order to provide service in those ports where we do not have an office nearby. Key Personnel Lists giving personnel names, contact numbers and the full style for each of our offices are available on request. Founded in 1956, three years prior to Alaska statehood, Alaska Maritime Agencies serves owners and operators of cargo and passenger vessels. Alaska Maritime Agencies