First international ice trader

Fredric Tudor (USA, 1783–1864) began exporting water ice in 1806 from Boston, MA, USA. In the summer of 1805 he was inspired when he had a drink cooled by ice which had been kept in an icehouse from the previous winter. His first shipment was 80 tonnes of ice bound for Martinique. By 1833 he was exporting ice as far away as Calcutta, India, and the global trade of ice reached 146,000 tonnes per year. Ultimately the trade was killed off by the invention of mass refrigeration. Fredric Tudor was also known as The Ice King