CARGO LINERS.

For 100 years, between 1850 and 1950, the car go liners grew to dominate the wprld's trade ro utes and, unlike the tramp steamer, provided r egular services with adverstised sailings and fi xed dates that merchants, shippers and import ers could rely on. The book begins the establishment of routes around Europe and a cross the North Atlantic in the 1850s. Not unt il the Liverpool ship owner and engineer, Alfr ed Holt, developed high-pressure compound engines were coal-powered vessels able to st eam further afield, to the Far East of Australi a. The opening the Suez Canal inb 1869 cem ented the dominance of the cargo liner and o nly with the appearance of the first container ship in the 1950s was that dominance finally overthrown.