Clarkson PLC, often referred to simply as Clarksons, is a provider of shipping services, and is headquartered in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

.Clarkson PLC Acquisition of Gibb Tools Limited - WSJ.com
/ref> In 2011,

Lloyd's List ''Lloyd's List'' is one of the world's oldest continuously running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London as early as 1734. It was published daily until 2013 (when the final print issue, number 60,850, was published), and is ...

described the company's shipbroking service as the "undisputed heavyweight of the shipbroking market". It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

and is a constituent of the

FTSE 250 Index The FTSE 250 Index ( "Footsie") is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions and demotions to and from the index occur quarterly in March, June, Septemb ...

History

The company was founded by Horace Anderton Clarkson in London in 1852. The son of a prosperous lawyer, he invited Leon Benham, a former colleague, to join him in

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...

. Benham's son Henry soon joined the business. In the 1850s the business involved

sailing ship A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships c ...

s, but by the 1860s the company was chartering steam ships. In 1872 Clarksons became shipowners with the acquisition of three

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

s. The company became the world's largest tanker broker in 1929 when

Esso Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic p ...

appointed Clarksons as its exclusive

shipbroker Shipbroking is a financial service, which forms part of the global shipping industry. Shipbrokers are specialist intermediaries/negotiators (i.e. brokers) between shipowners and charterers who use ships to transport cargo, or between buyers and ...

. The first overseas office opened in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1954. Offices soon followed in France, Australia and Germany, and in the 1960s, South Africa and Greece. Expansion in the Far East began in the 1990s when companies were established in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore. Carron Greig became joint

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

in 1962, served as chairman of the shipbroking division from 1972 to 1985, and as chairman of the whole group, then known as Horace Clarkson, until his retirement in 1993. He was credited with transforming the group into a world leader in its field. The company became a global force and Greig increased its business, especially with Esso, bringing in Brazil, Norway and the Far East to its portfolio. He also fought off Russian and English corporate raiders in the 1970s. The company spun off various diversified assets as Shipping Industrial Holdings in 1974. Michael Wade, a prominent insurance executive, sat on the

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ty ...

from 1984 to 1993 and Peter Parker, a leading industrial executive, sat on the board from 1971 until 1993. Richard Fulford-Smith became chief executive of the company in 2004. According to Robert Wright of the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', he was central to Clarkson's emergence as the world's largest sale and purchase shipbroker. Fulford-Smith was ousted from the board in 2008 after Russian litigation claims emerged against the company. Until March 2012,

Martin Stopford Martin Stopford (born 1947) is a British economist and has had careers as a teacher, writer, information provider and business manager. Stopford is regularly quoted by The Economist, the Financial Times, Bloomberg and Lloyds List. He received ...

, a prominent economist, sat on the board and was head of the research arm of the company. In 2013, Clarkson acquired Gibb Tools, a

North Sea oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea and ...

engineering tools supplier, for £12.7 million. In 2015, Clarkson acquired RS Platou AS, a Norwegian headed shipbroking and investment banking group.

Operations

Clarkson operations are divided into four areas: broking, financial, support and research. The company brokers vessels for some of the world's largest producers and traders of natural resources. Clarkson Research Services focuses primarily on the collection, validation, analysis and management of data about the merchant shipping and offshore markets. The chief executive since 2008 has been Andi Case. William (Bill) Thomas was appointed as Chair on 13 February 2019. The company has its headquarters at Commodity Quay, St Katharine Docks, London.

References

{{Authority control Shipping companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Shipbroking companies British companies established in 1852 1852 establishments in England Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Transport companies established in 1852