Moore-McCormack

Moore-McCormack Lines' first run was with Montara, intended to be a shipment of dynamite[1] from Wilmington, Delaware, to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, but, with the load not ready, the ship took coal from Norfolk, Virginia, to Searsport, Maine destined for Aroostook County, Maine, before returning for the dynamite.

On 4 October, Moore-McCormack contracted to operate ten cargo ships and three ocean liners[3] belonging to the United States Maritime Commission between the US and South America as the Good Neighbor Fleet.

[2] The passenger liners were the former Panama Pacific Line 20,000-gross register ton (GRT) turbo-electric steamships California, Virginia and Pennsylvania, which were renamed Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina to reflect their new route between New York and Buenos Aires via Rio de Janeiro, Santos and Montevideo.

Trade increased after the outbreak of the European war and Mooremack shifted some 20 million tons of cargo destined for that theatre, including whole trains for Russia.

[2] The United States's entry into World War II brought various opportunities for Mooremack, along with many of its ships being taken into US Navy service.

The Good Neighbor liners Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina became United States Army Transportation Corps troop ships.

The most common armament mounted on these merchant ships were the MK II 20mm Oerlikon autocannon and the 3"/50, 4"/50, and 5"/38 deck guns.

[8] In 1954, Mooremack withdrew the liner Uruguay from its New York – River Plate route, leaving Brazil and Argentina to continue a reduced service.

On 11 February 1966, Mormacaltair set sail from New York for Europe, establishing the first regularly scheduled transatlantic container service.

Mooremack had two of its newest freight liners, Mormacaltair and Mormadraco of 1965, lengthened and converted into partial cellular container ships in 1975–1976.