Seward seaport record., 1949-08-23
Steamship Co. Favors Seward
 For Seaport

Calling it's new service to Alaska an extension of it's huge coastwise operation, Ben H. Parkinson, exec utive vice-president of the Coast wise Line, in a meeting Tuesday noon with the Seward businessmen offered full cooperation of h is company in solving transportation problems of the Railbelt and all Alaska.
 Parkinson, who has had a life time of service in coastWise ship ping, emphatically stated that Sew ard with it's great natural harbor and rail terminus has great ad- vantage over other possible ports in Alaska. With the completion of the new highway link, that ad- vantage will be so deeply en- trenched that the people of Sew ard should never spend a moment worrying about the future of the city
 Parkinson reviewed the history of his company briefly to give local business men an insight into the size and stability of the Coastwise Line. Beside operating eight yes sels in worldwise bulk service. the company now has four ships in the Alaska and coastWise service and is expecting to add two more bottoms in the near future.
 During the war five of the six ships of the company were casual ties, and during that time the com pany operated 42 vessels for the War Shipping Administration It operated the affairs of the United States Lines Company which ad ded approximately 100 ships to the pool, and such vessels as the Queen Elizabeth. h e Aquitania, tn e Bouchfontaine and the America Besides this it operated 82 oil tank CTS in the largest tanker operation in history.
 Know-How
 We believe that we have the organization and the know-how to efficiently operate vessels in the coaStwise, British Columbia- Alaska trade and that We have proved this to be true during the last year. We are looking forward to increased business and increased service in the months and years to come" MT. Parkinson told the Sewardites.
 Many times during his talk, Park inson repeated that it is the hope of his company to be able to coop crate with all transportation agen- cies in bringing the best possible service to the Territory. It is not the duty of any one person or any one firm to say what should be done, he said, but he expressed the hope that all parties concerned would find it feasible to work out a program of cooperation to their mutual advantage
 Most ports, the executive point ed out, have a waterfront associa- tion and dispatching office through which dock facilities and longshore gangs work on cooperating basis.
 In the absence of a waterfront association he suggested that the Chamber of Commerce or some other group might get together with all parties concerned to work out fair solution to all problems. In that way the Coastwise Line would find it possible to come first to Seward This would be of ad- vantage to the steamship company, since the bulk of it's customers are in the Railbelt area. Seward would then. have the reputation as the best dispatching port in the Terri tory.
 The meeting was attended by 27 local businessmen who threw ques- tions at the steamship company of ficial and his two associates, Bill Sexton, company official and son of the company president, and E. A. Gardner, agent in Anchorage.