Shipper

Someone who transports good by ship, often the owner of the ship.

“Governor Rolph died, and at the height of the primary campaign came the strike against the shipowners in San Francisco. The San Francisco police were not brutal enough, and the shipowners wanted Merriam to call out the militia to break the strike. Merriam at that time was carrying on his campaign for the Republican nomination for Governor, and the week before the militia was called out his headquarters was unable to meet its payroll. Immediately after the militia was called out, a campaign committee account was opened at the Crocker National Bank in San Francisco, the initial depost being $13,700. Raymond Haight charged over the radio that the shipowners paid to Merriam’s headquarters more than $30,000 on this deal.”

Upton Sinclair, I, Candidate for Governor and How I Got Licked (1934).