Dates: 1801 -
The Bibby Line is a British company concerned with shipping and marine operations.
Its parent company, Bibby Line Group Limited, can be traced back to the shipbroking partnership of Bibby & Hall, which was founded in 1801. It is and always has been based in Liverpool. The Bibby Line was founded in 1807 by the first John Bibby (1775-1840).
It has operated in most areas of shipping throughout its 200 year history, and claims to be the oldest independently owned deep sea shipping line in the world. Along with other British ship owners, it endured hard economic conditions in the 1970’s and 1980’s, but survived through diversification into floating accommodation. The Group diversified further into Distribution and Financial Services in the late 1980’s and 1990’s.
Today the company employs around 3,500 people, mainly in UK distribution, and has Financial Services offices in USA, Australia, Poland, France and Canada. Its traditional base, Shipping, has undergone something of a renaissance, and grew four-fold in the 2003-07 period on the back of the success of its floating accommodation business, shrewd disposal of ships, and latterly Diving Support Activities.
In 2002, Sir Derek Bibby, 2nd baronet and great-great-grandson of the founder and past chairman and president of the firm, was aged 80 and terminally ill with leukaemia. He committed suicide October 9, 2002 by consuming aluminium phosphide - a poison which hours later caused his body to emit dangerous fumes forcing the evacuation of the hospital where his body was being held.
Forces Reunited Forum Posts involving Bibby Line
" Quoting: Terry Carey Hi all, I don’t know if this has ever been tried as a thread before and it may sink without trace (ahem) but here goes. Troopships were the normal way for us to travel to foreign parts when I was called up in 1949. I know that not only soldiers were transported by ship ..."
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" It was in June of 1956, some six months after I had returned from Egypt on the Lancashire, that Bibby Line decided that they would assemble the Engineering crew for the Oxfordshire and send them to Glasgow to familiarise themselves with the ship before they accepted her from the builders. ..."
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" After losing my job on the Cheshire due to her being sent for scrap I looked around for a similar position with another shipping company but there were no jobs open. Few ships carried plumbers other than the big passenger ships and they had waiting lists for the few seagoing jobs that came along ..."
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" I remember travelling as a young private on the "Devonshire" from Southampton to Cyprus in 1960. I think it was one of her last voyages. We were a mixed bunch on this trip, from many different Corps and Regiments. For some reason, the Ships Warrant Officer was an RAF man. He closely ..."
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" I remember travelling as a young private on the "Devonshire" from Southampton to Cyprus in 1960. I think it was one of her last voyages. We were a mixed bunch on this trip, from many different Corps and Regiments. For some reason, the Ships Warrant Officer was an RAF man. He closely ..."
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