Port of Oakland Shipping Machine

White backgroudn with black text around the rim and an illustration of a large trailer truck in the center

The Port of Oakland, California—the city's Port Authority—is an independent city department governed by commissioners nominated by the mayor and appointed by the city council. A primary self-funded department, its major operations are in aviation, real estate, maritime, and port utilities. In 1971, Leanord Sloane wrote for the New York Times that the Port of Oakland created The Shipping Machine, a "combination of the four major modes of transportation near the port" and placed the image featured on this button in trade journal advertisements. The Shipping Machine has the cab of a tractor-trailer, parts of a container ship, the tail of a jet liner, and the base of a locomotive.