The first vessels purpose-built to carry containers had begun operation in 1926 for the regular connection of the luxury passenger train between London and Paris, the Golden Arrow/Fleche d'Or. Four containers were used for the conveyance of passengers' baggage. These containers were loaded in London or Paris and carried to the ports of Dover or Calais. On February 1931 was launched the first container ship in the world. It was called the Autocarrier, owned by Southern Railway UK. It had 21 slots for containers of Southern Railway. In the United States, ships began carrying containers in 1951, between Seattle, Washington and Alaska. However, none of these services was particularly successful. First, the containers were rather small, with 52% of them having a volume of less than . Almost all European containers were made of wood and used canvas lids, and they required additional loading into rail or truck bodies.