Clyde Shipping Co Ltd (ship owners and shipping agents: 1893-: Glasgow, Scotland)

Two merchants from Glasgow, Scotland, and Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland, formed the Clyde Shipping Co in 1815 . The company acquired two paddle steamers, Industry and Trusty , to sail the river Clyde as luggage boats and lighter tugs. In 1856 , the partnership was dissolved and sold to a new partnership formed mainly of the Kidston family, who were ship owners and steel stockholders in Glasgow. The new firm had premises in Oswald Street, Glasgow, and acquired several new vessels including two tugs, Flying Childers and the Duke of Northumberland , and two coasters, Vivandiere and Killarney . With the latter, a regular service to Ireland was initiated and soon after the firm sold its luggage boats to the previous firm's agent and manager in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, James Steel, who went on to form Steel & Bennie, tug owners. An additional partnership was formed in 1856 under the name of the Glasgow Screw Steamship Co to manage the growing Scotland-Ireland coasting trade and the two companies operated under virtually the same management. By 1880 , the companies owned 14 tugs and 10 coastal steamers and by this point the board of directors of each company was identical. In 1881 a new partnership agreement was drawn up to amalgamate the interests of the two companies under the name of the Clyde Shipping Co .

Between 1867 and 1886 the company acquired the towage businesses of the River Towing Co , Greenock, Inverclyde, in 1867 ; Port Glasgow Towing Co , Port Glasgow, in 1880 ; Glasgow Screw Tug Co , Glasgow, in 1881 ; Queenstown Towing Co Ltd , Cobh, Ireland, in 1886 ; and M Langlands & Sons' Clyde-Plymouth interest in 1886 . In 1880 , the company acquired premises in Carlton Place on the south banks of the river Clyde in Glasgow and, in 1884 , it began regular runs to London.

In 1893 , it assumed limited liability as Clyde Shipping Co Ltd with a capital of £500,000 and George Jardine Kidston as chairman and James Cuthbert as managing director. At this time, the company was operating 15 coasters and 25 tugs. It also had 2 deep-sea tramps that dealt with foreign trade, often with islands in the Pacific Ocean.

In 1912 the company purchased the Waterford Steamship Co , Waterford, Ireland, and, when the Cork Steamship Co experienced difficulties in the period immediately after Irish partition, it reorganised part of that business as the British & Continental Steamship Co Ltd .

The 1914-1918 World War saw the Government requisition some of the company's fleet for a short period but the majority of the fleet continued in the service of the company; 8 coasters and 6 tramps were lost due to enemy action and its remaining tramp was sold in 1915. The 1939-1945 World War saw the loss of 2 coasters and 1 tug. During both wars the lives of 200 employees were lost.

In 1944 , Clyde Shipping Co Ltd were partly responsible for the formation of London Scottish Lines Ltd , which had evolved through a series of agreements between themselves, London & Edinburgh Shipping Co Ltd , General Steam Navigation Co Ltd and Carron Co , iron masters, to trade between Grangemouth and Leith on the east coast of Scotland and London.

By the mid 1950s , Clyde Shipping Co Ltd had only one vessel that carried passengers on the Liverpool-Waterford service. Since the company's formation it had always carried passengers, mainly between Britain and Ireland. Many of these travellers in the early years were steerage emigrants, but from 1900 onwards they were holiday-makers and carriage conditions were much improved. The regular port calls to unload or collect goods offered passengers the opportunity for day excursions and the voyages were seen as cruises yet never had the luxuries of the Mediterranean or Norwegian cruise liners of other companies. Following the 1939-1945 World War, the decision was taken to cease the passenger trade except between Liverpool and Ireland and this had ceased by the late 1950s.

The company acquired and managed a number of subsidiary companies from the 1960s onwards. These included Ross & Marshall Ltd , shipowners, established in 1907 in Greenock; Glenlight Shipping Ltd , ship managers, established in Glasgow in 1968 as a subsidiary of Ross & Marshall Ltd and transferred to Clyde Shipping Co Ltd in sometime in the 1970s; Clyde Shipping Tugs Ltd , ship owners, Glasgow, previously Light Shipping Ltd , acquired in 1973; and William Campbell (Port Glasgow) Ltd , coal merchants, established in Port Glasgow in 1947 and acquired by Ross & Marshall Ltd prior to 1966.

In 1964 , the company entered into the Waterford Consortium with Atlantic Steam Navigation Co Ltd , Preston, Lancashire, England, and George Bell & Co Ltd , Dublin, Ireland. The consortium was to operate the Preston to Waterford, Ireland, container service. Clyde Shipping Co Ltd managed the service with the Atlantic Steam Navigation Co Ltd acting as the Preston agents, and George Bell & Co Ltd acting as charting agents. Clyde Shipping Co Ltd also provided the staff at Waterford harbour. The consortium was a success but Clyde Shipping Co Ltd sold its 1/3 share to George Bell & Co Ltd in 1974.

The company was still active in 2002 as a leisure marine group and as part of Clyde Marine plc, holding company and producer of shipping deck equipment and rigging for leisure marine boats and was still based in Carlton Place.

From the guide to the Records of Clyde Shipping Co Ltd, ship owners and shipping agents, Glasgow, Scotland, c1819-c1990, (Glasgow University Archive Services)