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Brixham
Cheshire - operated by Bibby Transport suffered a cargo fire in August 2017 off the coast of the Canary Islands during a passage from Norway to Thailand with a cargo of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. The cargo in all five of the ship’s cargo holds burned for two straight weeks. Shipping Watch reports that 'toxic gases had M/V Cheshire's cargo exploding and made it rain fertilizer'. In 2021 the Norwegian Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that crew negligence was a key factor in the loss of the Cheshire and ordered Bibby Transport and Singapore-based operator J. Lauritzen to pay compensation and costs totalling around US$30m. Safety4Sea reports: 'Ruling that Bibby and Lauritzen were liable to pay damages, the court said it had found evidence of a ‘negligent breach of clear and repeated instructions’ by the ship’s crew, who had failed to ensure that all heat sources in the cargo holds were disconnected before loading. The judgment further states that a light by a ladder in cargo hold 4 had probably been left on from the time of loading and, most likely, had not been disconnected until four days after that,– by which time the heat around the lamp had started the chemical reaction. "The instructions were to disconnect the power supply, not just to turn off the switches. That such disconnection probably only took place after four days is in itself clearly reprehensible," the court pointed out. The court also decided that the crew were negligent in failing to act more quickly when the first signs of problems with the cargo had been detected.'
Derbyshire - Lost on 9 September 1980 during Typhoon Orchid with all 44 hands onboard. Largest British vessel ever lost at sea.
Harlington
Herefordshire - wrecked on Cardigan Island in 1934 while on the way to be scrapped
Hertfordshire
Kiel
Kowloon Bridge
Leicestershire - sold, renamed Heraklion and sunk in the Aegean Sea in 1966
Oxfordshire (1912) - official number 131454, recorded travelling Liverpool - Marseilles - Port Said - Colombo - Rangoon, departing Liverpool 2 March 1923. [UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890–1960, Liverpool, 2 March 1923]
Oxfordshire (1957)
Rmeil
Shropshire
Somersetshire
Worcestershire
Yorkshire - sunk by U-37 in September 1939 with the loss of 58 lives
Current operations
As of 2023 the Bibby Line labels itself a diverse company which has three separate services split into: Financial Services, Marine Services, and infrastructure applications. These businesses within the Bibby line group, operate across multiple countries and currently it is recorded to employ 1300 colleagues. It is now recording management of 1 billion pounds in funds.
After suffering through COVID-19 and ultimately undertaking a restructuring it was recorded that generally after working at a net loss they were able to run more profitably. In reports sent to the Uk companies house it can be seen that on 31 December 2021, the group made a net profit of £35.5m, compared with a net loss of £29.9m in 2020.
Leadership
Since 1965 Bibby has come into its modern era of leadership with the fifth generation, Derek Bibby becoming MD. He led diversification into new areas specifically financial services and infrastructure applications. Following his retirement Simon Sherrard was appointed the first non-family managing director and helped continue to modernize and drive diversification before handing over to the sixth generation Michael Bibby in 2000. Since then Bibby Line has continued to rapidly grow and diversify further and Michael stepped back from managing director to chairman. Currently the board is composed of 5 members; Jonathan Lewis the Executive Director (Group Managing Director, ), and the Non-Executive Directors including: Sir Michael Bibby Bt. DL (Chairman), David Anderson (Senior Independent), Susan Searle, and Geoffrey Bibby.
Financial Services
Bibby Financial Services was set up in 1982, is seen to be the UK’s largest independent invoice finance company. It offers services providing factoring and invoice discounting financial support for growing SME's. Through It aims to "help businesses around the world grow, combining international scope with expert local knowledge". In a report released in 2023 it note that it employed 900 people and had expanded to nine different countries. After a restructuring of the company in 2020 turnover was reported to have increased by 2022 from £132.4m to £150.5m for 2022, while its pre-tax profits increased from £255,000 to £9.4m.
Marine Services
Bibby Marine Limited, established in 1982, currently has 1 "Wavemaster" that can operate up to 30 days at a time and 1 Bibby Challenge that contains 337 rooms known as the Bibby Stockholm. This has led to the current dominant trait of the Bibby Line fleet being the application of these vessels for "walk to work service" where special operations ships, "Wavemasters", can take off shore workers out to their remote locations. Part of this then also extends into floating off shore worker accommodation locations providing floating barges where workers can live on or off duty. These marine services aim to provide cost effective and environmentally friendly options for workers on large scale marine infrastructure projects. There have been large controversies with Bibby Stockholm which aims to provide support housing for asylum seekers. Claims of prison like conditions were leveled and according to the Financial Times, governments were only saving £9.28 per person per day.
Infrastructure
Existing for the last 30 years and employing 230 people, "Garic" has worked in the welfare and plant hire market. This is through the "hire and sell welfare accommodation, modular buildings, plant and storage products, tower lights, environmental solutions, wheel washing, dust control and site shelters". These can be set up, serviced and broken down by Garic and are generally aimed towards fields like construction, infrastructure, industrial, house building, water and waste, power, utilities and renewables and commercial property sectors. They have moved into sustainable sectors as is one of their goals as seen in an article where Garic promotes sustainable solutions to business growth on the ground.
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