Sea-Land’s pioneering container ship WACOSTA is seen here leaving Rotterdam for the last time at the start of what was to be her last ever voyage under her own power.
Converted in 1966 from a WW2 standard type C2-S-E1 cargo ship, WACOSTA was originally built for Waterman Steamship Co Inc in 1944 by Gulf Shipbuilding Corp, Chickasaw, Alabama as hull no. 24.
As a containership, WACOSTA had capacity for 156 of Sea-Land’s 35ft containers in the holds plus 54 35-footers and 15 standard 40-footers on deck. Gross tonnage as a box-ship was 8,673 tons and deadweight capacity was 10,534 tonnes.
Propulsion was by pair of General Electric steam turbines with a combined output of 6,600 shp and geared to a single screw shaft to produce a service speed of 16 knots
In this photo taken on 22/7/1977, WACOSTA is bound for Bordeaux, where she was laid up for several months before being towed to breakers at Bilbao, Spain, where she arrived on 5/2/1978.