 By the middle of the 19th century the company expanded further into the re-exporting business, importing goods worldwide and re-exporting them to Europe and North America.Recognising the opportunities offered by the emerging rise of the oil industry, in the 1880s Marcus shipped case oil from Russian oil fields to Japan such that by 1888 that he was able to commission his own ships for bulk oil transportation.His first ship, the 'Murex', was the first tanker to pass through the Suez Canal in 1892 and this division of the company exists today as the Royal Dutch Shell Company; originally named the Shell Transport and Trading Company after the popular imports of sea shells of the time.