A series of business setbacks amid the rise of containerized shipping left the company in perilous financial condition in the 1970s.

[1][2] This original ship, built at Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Newcastle and later renamed Seatrain New Orleans, was capable of carrying 95 fully loaded rail cars.

[7][8] In 1944, the five vessels were noted as being unique in the commercial shipping world as described in a decision by the Comptroller General of the United States concerning issues in setting wartime charter rates.

[9] Those unique characteristics, though making setting a "market value" difficult, made the ships of particular utility for wartime transport of large, assembled vehicles and machines.

[13] In 1959, Sea-Land Service founder Malcom McLean, a pioneer and leader in intermodal marine-rail-highway containerization, attempted to buy the competing Seatrain Lines, but his offer was rejected.

Transeastern Associates, a firm created in the early 1950s by Joseph Kahn and Howard Pack, bought Seatrain Lines in 1965 for $8.5 million.

All would be heavily rebuilt from surplus World War II era type T2 tankers and C4 transports obtained by Hudson Waterways through the Maritime Administration (MARAD) ship exchange program.

The ships were equipped with two cranes for self-loading and unloading and could carry general bulk and palletized cargo, intermodal containers, and vehicles.

In 1971, Seatrain placed two new high-speed gas turbine-powered container ships in service on its transatlantic route, the German-built Euroliner and Eurofreighter.

On August 17 of that year Seatrain, in partnership with the Penn Central and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroads, also established a pioneering coast-to-coast land bridge rail container service between its U.S. East and West coast terminals, cutting up to 10 days off the transit time between Europe and the U.S. West coast and Asia.

[20] In 1974, Matson Navigation Company took over Seatrain's West Coast–Hawaii service, leasing the Transoneida, Transchamplain and Transontario to handle the traffic.

Struggling to remain solvent in the wake of its disastrous excursion into shipbuilding, a dramatic increase in fuel costs following the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) price increases of the mid-1970s, and the rapid replacement and expansion of its fleet in the late 1970s, and a deepening business downturn, in 1980 Seatrain began divesting its chartered tonnage and cut its rates in the North Atlantic lane to attract more traffic.

Seatrain's largest unsecured creditors were the pension and welfare fund of the New York Shipping Association-International Longshoremen's Association, the US Economic Development Administration, and Union Carbide Corporation.

The five Seatrain vessels were considered by military planners in 1941 as the need for specialized ships capable of handling fully assembled aircraft, tanks, locomotives, and other vehicles was foreseen.

[10] Shortly after the entry of the United States into the war the Army arranged for the construction of fifty C-4 freighters modelled on the Seatrain concept.

[23] Under a law effective 24 March 1943 the Administrator of WSA was authorized to return the vessels to the original owners as long as their use satisfies wartime needs.

[26] Just prior to being converted to U.S. Navy use as the USS Lakehurst, the already greatly battle scarred Seatrain New Jersey was described as “Notorious for being shot up more than any other U.S. merchant ship.

[28] The designed capability to handle such large and heavy cargo as loaded rail cars made the ships critical in transport of assembled military equipment.

McNulty (USN), Seatrain New Jersey as USS Lakehurst (one battle star WWII) participated in the Allied invasion of North Africa as part of the fleet's Southern Attack Group.

[30][31] Fifty-two tanks, eighteen self-propelled guns and other supplies were lost when SS Fairport was sunk and NYPOE located replacement armor and ammunition, loaded and dispatched Seatrain Texas within forty-eight hours to sail unescorted, taking 18 days to Cape Town, until joined by a Free French escort at Durban as escort as far as Somalia.

[30][31][32] Seatrain Texas, again sailing unescorted and under the British code name "Treasure Ship," arrived at Port Taufiq on 2 September where the fully assembled tanks were unloaded and operational on 23 October at the Battle of El Alamein.

In addition, at least three of Seatrain's aging railcar carriers were also chartered to MSTS for carrying supplies and material to the theater, often traveling up the Nha Be River to Saigon to unload, where they were sometimes exposed to hostile action.

[34] After the end of the conflict Seatrain's two newest railcar carriers and all seven sea-lift ships were laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF), with some of them periodically reactivated for Reforger exercises to transport military vehicles and equipment to Germany.

[36] They started work on the burned out hull of the Sea Witch to turn into a chemical tanker (which was later finished at Newport News).

Malcom McLean, who founded the pioneer container line Sea-Land Service in 1956, conceived the concept of containerization while sitting in his truck at the port waiting for a ship to be unloaded.

Seatrain began using 40 foot containers in the early 1960s, but they were of another proprietary design favored by the Missouri Pacific and Baltimore and Ohio railroads.