History
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 1970s and 1980s, but survived through diversification into floating accommodation. The Group diversified further into Distribution and Financial Services in the late 1980s and 1990s.
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 fourfold in the 2003–07 period on the back of the success of its floating accommodation business, ship management activities and shrewd timing of disposal of ships.
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 leukemia. He committed suicide on 9 October 2002 by consuming aluminium phosphide, a poison that caused his body to emit, hours later, dangerous fumes that forced the evacuation of the hospital where his body was being held.
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