History
The Company was founded by James Fisher in 1847 in Barrow-in-Furness as a ship-owning business transporting haematite from the Cumbrian hills. In 1868 it had 70 ships and by the 1870s it owned the largest coasting fleet in the United Kingdom. It acquired the Furness Shipbuilding Company in 1870 but only went on to build one ship, the Ellie Park. During the 1880s it slowly moved from operating sailing ships to operating steamers.
It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1952. From the 1960s the Company was managed by Directors with no family connection. At that time it established a reputation for moving heavy equipment, including even locomotives, by sea. By 1965 it had built its first ship suitable for transporting irradiated nuclear fuel.
In the 1960s the company chartered up to a dozen of its ships to the Atlantic Steam Navigation Company to operate the latter's Preston based container services across the Irish Sea.
In 1984 the company acquired short sea and offshore specialists Coe Metcalf Shipping, lifting the fleet to 42 vessels, and in 1996 it acquired P&O Tankships Ltd.
The company's division James Fisher Defence operate a submarine rescue service for the Royal Navy, and provided a Scorpio 45 submersible to save the lives of seven Russian sailors in their AS-28 submarine in 2005.
In 2005 James Fisher acquired Fendercare Marine Solutions Ltd for £12m and in 2007 it acquired Buchan Technical Services for £5m and FT Everard, a leading competitor in the UK coastal shipping market, for £350m.
In 2013 James Fisher acquired Divex Ltd for an initial consideration of £20m in cash plus a further maximum additional consideration of £13m linked to future profitability targets.
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