Always been considerable cross-over between shipping and air lines, Maersk having ventured into passenger airlines prior to focusing on airfreight to add to its shipping operation. It has been superseded as the largest container ship operator by MSC, whose ships can carry upto 24,000 (20') containers and which also acquired an airline to move goods that bit quicker. Other airlines to have sprung from freight forwarding include Cathay Pacific, originally of Shanghai.
At the same time, as recently as the 1960s it was fairly common for passengers to travel by ship, especially on longer routes across the Atlantic or to Australia in view of the comparative cost of flying and its fuel-stops enroute. The perceived threat to shipping companies led some of them to set up airlines of their own, most notably Court Line and Dan-Air in the UK.
Toward the end of the latter's life they were known for running on a shoe-string and would thus arrive at Gatwick with the bare minimum of fuel required for holding and diversion. They became known for diverting to Bournemouth in the circs to disrupt people's Instrument Rating test with fuel emergencies.
I myself had just completed the precision approaches and holding exercises, having only the non-precision (NDB, as they didn't have a VOR) to pursue when one such flight pitched up and we were vectored elsewhere. Should it ever to happen to me nowadays ~ and face it, it won't ~ I'd say the examiner just had a heart-attack and that my emergency trumps theirs.
The crane at the railhead here is called a 'heavy lifter' and manufactured invariably in Finland of all places. You don't want to be run over by one either.
