Container industry icon Paul F. Richardson dies at 88

Paul F. Richardson, considered by many in the maritime business to be among the founders of the now 65-year-old container-shipping industry, passed away on Sept. 24 at the age of 88.

   Paul F. Richardson, a longtime maritime industry executive who witnessed the birth of containerization, died on Sunday, Sept. 24. He was 88.
   No details on the cause of his death were released. However, he had been in declining health for more than a year.
   Richardson was considered by many in the maritime business to be among the founders of the now 65-year-old container shipping industry.
   “He was there at the beginning,” said R. Kenneth Johns, chairman of R.K. Johns & Associates, who worked alongside Richardson at the start of their careers at Sea-Land in late 1950s and 1960s.
   “People tend to forget that containerization was an American contribution to global shipping,” Johns added.
   Richardson joined Winston-Salem, N.C.-based McLean Trucking as a rookie New England salesman in 1952 and within two years became the top producer for the entire company. He also became a confidant of the company’s founder, Malcom McLean, who in 1954 laid out his “sea land” concept for moving standard-sized containers worldwide by ship.
   To make this plan a reality, McLean acquired Pan-Atlantic Steamship Co. in 1956 and modified the ships to carry stacks of containers on their decks. He named the new company Sea-Land Service.
   “I wanted to be part of it from the beginning, and they needed a good sales component,” said Richardson, recalling the events years later.
   However, starting Sea-Land was a gamble, because many shippers, as well as dock labor, were resistant to the concept at first. Richardson became Sea-Land’s regional sales manager for New England in 1960, and immediately made his mark as a top salesman for the fledgling container carrier. He became Sea-Land’s general manager in 1961, and by 1964 was appointed executive vice president.
   Containerization had started to become the way of transporting packaged commercial cargoes worldwide by the late 1960s and early 1970s, as other carriers embraced the concept and dock labor adjusted to the new system.
   Richardson was a constant promoter of Sea-Land’s executive training program, which became unofficially known as “Sea-Land University.” The company trained a large cadre of container shipping executives who would not only made their mark at Sea-Land but within other liner companies and marine terminals throughout the world.
   Richardson was named president of Sea-Land in 1969 and became its vice chairman in 1976. He resigned from the company in 1977.
   During his years at Sea-Land in the 1970s, Richardson was at the forefront of several private and public sector maritime industry initiatives. He was a founder and former chairman (1971-1976) of the National Maritime Council, which brought together all segments of the American maritime industry, including U.S.-flag ocean carriers, terminals, unions and shippers. He was also a charter member of the International Council of Containership Operations, known simply as The Box Club, which consisted of the chief executives of the world’s liner carriers.
   Although he had resigned as president of Sea-Land in 1977, Richardson remained active in the liner carrier industry by immediately forming advisory and consulting firm Paul F. Richardson & Associates in Holmdel, N.J.
   In March 1977, he assisted American Shipper with holding its first conference in New York. The publication by then was about three years old. Richardson’s influence as president of Box Club helped draw an attendance of nearly every chief executive of the container shipping lines, U.S. maritime labor unions, members of the Federal Maritime Commission and Maritime Administration, chairmen of the House and Senate committees concerned with shipping, and export/import transportation managers of the  largest American manufacturers.
   “The conference was a huge success and established American Shipper among the leaders in the maritime publishing,” said David A. Howard, founder and editor-emeritus of American Shipper.
   In 1978, Richardson was appointed by the U.S. treasury secretary to be a member of the Economics Panel of the United Nations Soviet-American Parallel Studies Program, which held discussions in Moscow at the height of the Cold War.
   Richardson and his firm remained active in containerization projects involving ocean carriers and marine terminals for the next 35 years.
   “Paul enjoyed the respect and admiration of both labor and management for the many decades that he was an integral part of our shipping community,” said James A. McNamara, director of public relations for the International Longshoremen’s Association. “In recent years, his key studies and reports helped both the ILA and our management counterparts negotiate successful contracts. Current ILA President Harold J. Daggett and previous leaders Richard Hughes, John Bowers and Teddy Gleason all considered Paul Richardson one of their most trusted friend and advisor.”
   “My direct involvement with Paul really started in 1997 when I took over Sea-Land’s Elizabeth New Jersey Terminal,” said Jim Devine, who worked at Sea-Land until the company was bought by Maersk in 1999 and retired from the industry in 2014. “I worked with him on several key projects including the selection of the company’s northeast hub location, and on sales and labor agreements.”
   The two remained close friends ever since. “I have stayed close with him over the last few years and have enjoyed him sharing with me many of the stories dealing with the early years when [Sea-Land] was just getting started,” Devine said.
   “One of his favorite statements was ‘Good people will lift you up, bad people will lift you out,’” Devine added. “He was such a charming and gracious individual who cared for others and did for others.”
   For his years of dedicated service to the container-shipping industry, Richardson received numerous awards from trade associations.
   In 1981, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Citation from U.S. Navy secretary. He received the Connie Award in 1993 from the Containerization and International Institute for his leadership and numerous contribution to the industry and was subsequently inducted in the International Maritime Hall of Fame in 2003. In November 2006, he received the Admiral of the Ocean Seas Award from the United Seaman’s Service and was recognized for his many years of leadership in the freight transportation industry by the National Industrial Transportation League in 2007.
   In February 2017, Paul F. Richardson Associates and Seabury Capital merged to become Seabury PFRA (SPFRA), a New York-based maritime industry advisory and investment firm. With his health in decline, Richardson had already stepped back from the industry.
   “I am very proud of the client accomplishments and relationships that endured at PFRA, and I am confident that they will carry on in the same fashion under the SPFRA banner given its extensive industry offerings and coverage,” he said.
   Born in Boston on March 29, 1929 to Leo and Nora (Finlay) Richardson, Paul F. Richardson served in the Marine Corps until 1948. He graduated from Boston University in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in public relations/communications, specializing in industrial relations.
   He was predeceased by his wife of 53 years, Jane Elizabeth (Gill) in 2003, son Francis Paul, daughter, June Elin, and grandson, Sean Gill Richardson. He is survived by two sons: Paul Matthew, spouse Nancy, and Peter Kevin Richardson; three daughters: Jayne Maura, spouse William Kennelly; Joan Elin and Maura Louise Richardson; and a brother, George Richardson. He is also survived by three grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
   Visitation and mass will be held at Church of the Nativity, 180 Ridge Road, Fair Haven, N.J. Visitation will be Thursday from 4-8 p.m. and the mass will be celebrated on Friday at 10 a.m., with the burial to follow at Fairview Cemetery, Middletown, N.J. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made in Paul’s memory to Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, N.J. His memorial website may be viewed at johnedayfuneralhome.com.