Rotterdam in 1989, shipping chief William Brewer was nearly overcome with emotion.

The launch of the 387-foot vessel marked the fulfilment of his long-held dream for Bermudian control in the shipping business.

"It was probably the most moving day of all,'' Mr. Brewer said of his 42-year career in shipping. The Oleander was the first ship built for Bermudians by Bermudians in the modern era.'' Mr. Brewer recalled that proud moment for The Royal Gazette as he packed his office last Thursday, the day before retiring from the helm of Container Ship Management.

There are other highlights in the career of the self-effacing businessman whose quiet, deliberate approach to business materially changed the lives of Bermudians as well as the face of his industry.

Against early inertia and union resistance, he helped bring containerisation to Bermuda. It was a step that kept a lid on the cost of goods and gave businesses more control over their affairs, including the ability to respond to consumer demands.

Mr. Brewer was also instrumental in organising Bermudian ownership of a shipping company, Bermuda Container Lines. It was a move that broke the modern pattern of the Island's overseas lifelines being totally controlled by foreign interests.

His successor at Container Ship Management, Geoffrey Frith, described Mr.

Brewer as a "visionary and a motivator. He was a man with ideas who motivated people to get them put into place.'' Neville Conyers, chairman and president of Stevedoring Services, credits Mr.

Brewer's efforts to containerise Bermuda as a "tremendous contribution to the life of the Island''.

BCL president Gilbert Darrell described Mr. Brewer as a very important character in the shipping industry.

"He devoted all his life to it,'' he said. "Not many people have more knowledge than him. He was the sparkplug, for want of a better word, in BCL.'' And Henry Hayward of Meyer Agencies described his long-time competitor as a "very progressive, forward-thinking individual''.

"Once BCL was formed, we brought in a series of competitors. It has been a very competitive 14 years. I respect him very much.'' Mr. Brewer, 65 next month, joined John S. Darrell in April, 1951, the Monday after he graduated from University of Toronto.

"I've been at it practically non-stop since then'' he said. "On reflection, I think I should have taken time off and seen something of the world. Kids today go off and do something more broadening. But in those days people left school and looked for work.

"Fortunately, there was a position for me in John S. Darrell's shipping travel department.'' He started out as a boarding clerk working the Canadian National Steamship Co.

lady boats, meeting them on arrival and meeting their needs.

Mr. Brewer, 42 years later, remembers the ships' names, their ports of call in the Bahamas and the Caribbean, even seasonal route changes.

In 1955, Mr. Brewer went to the docks as a checker and longshoreman, duties he held for 31 years.

"Those days were very different from today,'' he said. "We started at 8 a.m.

and went through to midnight, practically seven days a week if ships were in.

"It was all manual work: slinging trays, putting on trolleys, stacking cargo by hand, separating for delivery. It was far more physically demanding to be a longshoreman and checker in those days.'' Mr. Brewer says his years on the docks were an important education.

"I enjoyed those years,'' he said. "They helped me understand the problems of the industry and what the men do.'' Knowledge of the amount of physical work and time needed to clear ships probably made Mr. Brewer receptive to the idea of containerisation.

Docks management had overcome union resistance to introduce some mechanisation, but Mr. Brewer saw containerisation offering a revolutionary and positive change.

In 1967, he organised a City Hall symposium at which speakers from abroad talked to importers about the benefits of containerisation.

He then helped organise the first visit of a container ship. John Barritt, then Minister of Transport, wanted to see how the movement of a container through Hamilton would affect traffic.

From Number Seven Shed, they followed a container along Front Street, up Bermudiana Road to Vallis & Company.

"That was the beginning of containerisation,'' Mr. Brewer said.

Soon after, with then docks manager Jack Robinson and Bill Shanks of Stevedoring Services, Mr. Brewer drew a plan to convert the Hamilton docks into a container port.

They took their paper to the Corporation of Hamilton which eventually commissioned engineer Miles Outerbridge to draw up plans.

The new docks was "probably the best investment the Corporation of Hamilton could have made. It allowed for the full development of containerisation in Bermuda. And keeping the port in Hamilton helped it reap the rewards.'' From the late 1960s to 1977, Mr. Brewer ran John S. Darrell's freight department. Constant exposure to the Island's everyday need for overseas goods and to the foreign-owned vessels that carried them caused him to see a need for local ownership.

One day while meeting with Fernance Perry, then owner of the Piggly Wiggly, Mr. Brewer suggested "we get Bermudians together to run our own shipping company''.

Mr. Perry suggested that any such company would have to have the involvement of importers. By year-end enough interest had been expressed to form BCL.

The first major step of the new company was to negotiate the purchase of Bermuda Express Service's Oleander .

"Everybody said we paid too much for her,'' Mr. Brewer said. "They said we'd bought a Rolls Royce to do a Volkswagen job. And for the first two years, it appeared they were right.

"But finally we got some moderate increases (in rates) and from 1982 to 1989 the company became very successful, providing a reliable service, as much as 70 percent of the container traffic on the (New Jersey-Bermuda) route.'' That reliable service was made possible by the formation of Container Ship Management under the leadership of Mr. Brewer.

The importers who made up BCL didn't have any shipping men among them so they looked to Mr. Brewer, who then parlayed his industry knowledge and involvement into CSM.

Two men who were critical to CSM's success were Mr. Brewer's original partner, Norman Morgan, and later Bert Outerbridge, who retired with Mr. Brewer on Friday.

BCL's success in the 1980s laid the foundation for the decision to build the new Oleander, a $15 million commitment that Mr. Brewer believes is on the verge of vindication after some rough early years.

At the end of a long career, Mr. Brewer says he is satisfied Bermudians now control their shipping industry. He is also proud his company has provided the Island with reliable service.

Inspiration: CSM's Bill Brewer On June 1, 1994, William (Bill) Brewer retired from the helm of Container Ship Management Ltd., the company which manages the Oleander for Bermuda Container Lines Ltd. Don Grearson, then The Royal Gazette's chief reporter, wrote the following article on the occasion of Mr. Brewer's retirement .