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P&O a
major international logistics and transport company
founded as 'The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation
Company' in 1837. The company has a long and celebrated
past. It stems from a partnership formed in 1822 between
Brodie McGhie Wilcox, a London ship broker, and a
Shetland-born former Royal Navy clerk named Arthur
Anderson.
%20Peninsular%20and%20Oriental%20Steam%20Navigation%20Company.jpg) P&O
became an Imperial institution, chartered ships to British
government as troop transports and hospital ships, and
provided a brand-new liner Medina as the Royal Yacht for
King George V and Queen Mary's voyage to the Delhi Durbar
in 1911.
Viceroy of India (19,648 tons, built 1929) was one of the
ships built for P&O's UK-Bombay mail service.
P&O the company today is one of the world's foremost
developers and operators of container ports. P&O Ports is
a leading global port operator and employ 22,000 people
across the globe in it's various business activities. The
P&O Ports is headquartered in London.
Its main service is containerised cargo handling based on
long term concessions to operate terminals in ports which
offer strong growth opportunities. With 29 container
terminals and logistics operations in over 100 ports it
has a presence in 19 countries.
Other services include: general cargo, bulk cargo, roll
on-roll off facilities and cruise passenger terminal
management. The company also provides specialist maritime
services to industry and government as P&O Maritime
Services. P&O Ferries are operated for freight and tourist
passengers between the UK and Belgium, France Holland,
Ireland and Spain.
In shipping, it bought out its partners in Overseas
Containers in 1986, purchased ferry, property and harbour
group European Ferries in 1987, and doubled the size of
Princess Cruises with the acquisition of the cruise line
Sitmar in 1988.
P&O European Ferries' 26,433-ton Pride of Dover, built in
1987, seen entering Calais. At the time of her delivery
she was the largest ship on the short sea ferry routes out
of Dover, having been ordered for the European Ferries
Group which P&O purchased earlier in the same year.
Grand Princess (108,806 tons) was the largest cruise ship
in the world at the time of her delivery to Princess
Cruises in 1998. Too large to pass through the Panama
Canal, she was designed for service in the Mediterranean
and Caribbean, carrying 2,600 passengers.
In contrast to the ever-larger ships being built for the
traditional Princess and P&O cruise fleets, in 1999 P&O
acquired control of the German specialist cruise operator
Aida Cruises, which catered for a somewhat younger
passenger, including afficionados of mountain biking,
scuba diving and other energetic pursuits, with the
38,531-ton Aida, built in 1996.
A fleet renewal and expansion programme for P&O Cruises
reached a new peak in May 1998 when the world's then
largest-ever cruise ship, the 109,000 ton Grand Princess,
was delivered to Princess Cruises. By the time of the
demerger of the cruise businesses in October 2000, a
further nine cruise vessels were on order, including two
for Aida Cruises, a German concern in which P&O had taken
a controlling interest in 1999.
P&O itself has continued to change. A new joint venture
involving its bulk carrier interests was announced at the
end of 2000, while 2001 saw the delivery of two of the
largest ferries in the world for the North Sea and the
winning of the port concession at Chennai in India.
During 2002 P&O further expanded its ports business in
Asia and Europe and its cold logisitics interests in the
USA. It bought out its partner in the P&O Stena ferry
business and reorganised the Dover Straits, Western
Channel and North Sea operations under one "P&O Ferries"
banner.
In 2003 there were further port acquisitions in Vancouver,
Mundra, Le Havre, Fos and Marseille, as well as the growth
of existing facilities at Shekou and Chennai. P&O's shares
in its offshore supply vessel and bulk carrier joint
ventures, International Offshore Services and Associated
Bulk Carriers, were both sold.
Substantial property disposals continued in 2004, as well
as the sale of P&O's resort interests in Australia and La
Manga Club in Spain. Some Irish Sea ferry routes and ships
were also sold. A concession was acquired for a major new
port development at Antwerp, and the P&O Nedlloyd
container shipping joint venture was converted first into
a free standing company, Royal P&O Nedlloyd, with a P&O
interest of 25% and then, in 2005, bought entirely by AP
Moeller-Maersk.
At P&O Ports environmental protection is a fundamental
part of the company’s operations. Care for the environment
is not a specialist niche but an important daily
management task, which is taken seriously.
The company believes in developing a sound environmental
management strategy as a cornerstone to its environmental
policy.
Return to: Major
Container Terminals, India
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