Ocean Group plc was a major

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

transport business. It was 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 was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History

The company was founded by

Alfred Holt Alfred Holt (13 June 1829 – 28 November 1911) was a British engineer, ship owner and merchant. He lived at Crofton Estate, Crofton, Aigburth in Liverpool, England. Holt is credited with establishing the long distance steamship by develo ...

and Philip Holt, as the ''Ocean Steamship Company'', to provide a steamship service known as the ''

Blue Funnel Line Alfred Holt and Company, trading as Blue Funnel Line, was a UK shipping company that was founded in 1866 and operated merchant ships for 122 years. It was one of the UK's larger shipowning and operating companies, and as such had a significan ...

'', between the United Kingdom and China. It was generally known as ''Holts'' and had a trademark blue funnel on its ships. For many years it used

Swire Group Swire Group () is a Hong Kong- and London-based British conglomerate. Many of its core businesses can be found within the Asia Pacific region, where traditionally Swire's operations have centred on Hong Kong and mainland China. Within Asia ...

as it shipping agents. In 1947 it formed

Malayan Airways Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

. It was first listed on the

in 1965. In 1969, it joined forces with

British & Commonwealth Holdings British and Commonwealth Holdings plc was a financial services company which used to be a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The Company was originally established in 1955 when Clan Line Steamers was merged with Union Castle to form The ...

Furness Withy Furness Withy was a major British transport business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The company was founded by Christopher Furness and Henry Withy (1852–1922) in 1891 in Hartlepool. This was achieved by the amalgamati ...

, and P&O to form

Overseas Containers Limited Overseas Containers Limited (OCL) was a container shipping company formed by a consortium of British shipping companies in 1965. It was taken over by P&O in 1986. It is not to be confused with Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL). History In ...

to exploit the introduction of

containerization Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers). Containerization is also referred as "Container Stuffing" or "Container Loading", which is the pro ...

. In 1972, it acquired ''William Cory'', a major shipping agent, and the following year, it changed its name to ''Ocean Transport & Trading''. In 1986, it withdrew ''Overseas Containers Limited'' and in 1990 it renamed itself ''Ocean Group''. In 2000, it merged with NFC plc to form Exel plc.NFC and Ocean forge £3.2bn alliance to exploit e-commerce
The Independent, 22 February 2000

Group members

A major restructuring exercise occurred in 1967 whereby all of the Ocean Steam Ship Company’s fleet operations were divided amongst four companies, each of which answered to the main board of the Ocean Steam Ship Company. The four fleet operating companies were: - *

Elder Dempster Elder Dempster Lines was a UK shipping company that traded from 1932 to 2000, but had its origins in the mid-19th century. Founders Alexander Elder Alexander Elder was born in Glasgow in 1834. He was the son of David Elder, who for many y ...

Glen Line Glen Line was a UK shipping line that was founded in Glasgow in 1867. Its head office was later moved first to London and then to Liverpool. History The firm had its roots in the co-operation between the Gow and McGregor families in Glasgow ...

* Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschappij Oceaan

Subsidiaries and subsequent acquisitions

* Seaway Car Transporters Limited were a wholly owned subsidiary of Elder Dempster * Guinea Gulf Line – formerly the John Holt Line - was acquired by Elder Dempster in 1965 *

Palm Line The Palm Line was a UK-owned shipping line that was engaged in the West African trade from 1949, primarily servicing the ports along 5,000 miles of coastline from Morocco in the north to Angola in the far south. It ceased trading in 1986. Palm ...

was acquired in 1984

History

Group members

Subsidiaries and subsequent acquisitions

References

Further reading