The history of Swire Group
Swire was originally a small import and export company in Liverpool, and officially opened in the early19th century. The founder of the company, John Swire (1793- 1847), is from Yorkshire and was born in Halifax, a wealthy mill town. His family lived there for 150 years, until1in the late 1950s, when his grandfather began to trade in wool. However, in the 1990s 18, with the rise of the new American continent, the wool industry faced the competitive pressure brought by cheap imported cotton, which led to the bankruptcy of John Swire's grandfather and father.
Only John Swire, a teenager, decided to go to Liverpool to develop. At that time, Liverpool was a prosperous trade center in Britain. At first, he was an apprentice in an import agency of a relative. He worked hard, and after a few short years, he finally opened his own company in 18 16. John Swire's business mainly revolves around his old line-textile industry, which imports raw cotton in New Orleans and exports cotton products in Lancashire. Under his painstaking efforts, the small company is thriving and its business is booming. By the time John Swire died in 1847, the trading company he left to his two sons, John Samuel Swire and William Hudson Swire (1830- 1884) was already quite large.
At that time, John Samuel Swire (1825- 1898) was only 22 years old, but he was already a very outstanding businessman. His true nature as an entrepreneur laid the foundation for the company's later achievements. When he was in his twenties, he traveled all over the United States and once had a postal franchise in Arkansas, USA, with great achievements. 1854, he sailed to Australia for gold. Although he failed, he successfully set up a branch in Melbourne in 1855. Although he quickly entrusted this business to an agency, the establishment of Swire Brothers shifted its business focus from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, which made the company take an important step. Melbourne's business later developed into a trading business of exporting all kinds of goods to Australia, from barbed wire, cement, olive oil to Guinness beer. British Swire Group engaged in Guinness beer bottling business in the 1960s and exported it overseas under the name of Dagger Stout.
186 1 year, the American civil war broke out, and John Swire returned to Liverpool before the war broke out, but not long after, the civil war had a disastrous impact on cotton trade. Fortunately, the two brothers have sold their shares in Evangeline and Theodore, two cotton trading sailboats that they first owned in11950s, so that they can turn to trade with China without any worries and import precious tea and silk from China, and China has become their potential textile export market.
China and other places.
For many years, China has been closed to the outside world. It was not until the signing of the treaty of nanking and the opening of many ports for foreign trade about 20 years ago that China entered the world market. Prior to this, foreign companies engaged in foreign trade could only open stores in the southern port of Guangdong (Guangzhou). A quarter of a century later, the focus of western trade with China shifted to Shanghai at the mouth of the Yangtze River.
However, China is far away from Britain, and the agents in China lack the energy to do business, so John Swire soon wants to do more direct transactions. Just then, 1865, an old friend of John Swall contacted him. His name was Alfred Holt, and he was a ship owner in Liverpool. Engineer Holt once designed a new type of steamboat with fast sailing speed and low fuel consumption. He suggested using this boat to rob the business of transporting tea boats from Liverpool to the Far East. Under his lobbying, Swire readily agreed to invest in a friend's ocean shipping company (later renamed Blue Funnel Line), while Holt promised to let Swire act as its agent in China if Swire intends to set up its own business in Shanghai.
John Samuel Swire was inspired by Holt's suggestion, so he went to Shanghai 1866 years ago. In the same year1February 4th, North China Daily published a small notice announcing a company called Butterfield &; Swire company was formally established. Richard Shackleton Butterfield is a partner of Bradford wool and worsted wool manufacturer Swire Co., Ltd., which is one of Swire's largest export customers. As a result, their cooperation did not last long. Only two years later, the partnership ended, but the new company still kept the name of butterfield for the next 100 years. According to the local tradition, John Swire soon gave the company a Chinese name-Taikoo Foreign Firm. "Taikoo" has a large scale and a long history. In fact, this name is still widely known in Asia.
By 1870, Swire had set up branches in Yokohama, China and Hongkong, and set up offices in Manchester and new york, while the British headquarters moved from Liverpool to London until today.
When John Swire arrived in Shanghai, he was shocked by the potential of steamboats sailing in the Yangtze River valley. At that time, the Yangtze River was the only channel for trade between the west and the inland of China. In Alfred Holt and its Clyde Shipyard, Scott's shipping company; With the support of the engineering company, Swire established the Swire Shipping Company registered in London, and was appointed by Swire Foreign Firm to take a management position in Shanghai. John Swire immediately ordered three Mississippi-style Ming ships for the new company-Beijing, Shanghai and Yichang. Before three new ships arrived in China, he had acquired the assets of United Airlines, which had just declared bankruptcy, and thus acquired valuable real estate and two steamboats in the Yangtze River basin. 1873, the old ship "Jiong" of Justice Steamship Company became the first ship sailing under the Taikoo flag.
In a short period of one year, John Swire bought two coastal trading vessels from Scott as an auxiliary business, and John Swire named them the Coastal Shipping Company (CBO). The company soon developed a monopoly business-bean cake trade along the coast of China. "Bean cake" is a fertilizer made from the remaining soybean skin after soybean oil pressing, which is mainly used in southern fruit growing areas. 1883, CBO merged with Swire Shipping Company. At that time, CBO's charter network had spread all over Southeast Asia and had begun to sail to Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
Swire Steamship Company's business is increasingly diversified, which urges the company to open up new business areas. The first operation began in 188 1 year, when the company acquired a number of large-scale land in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong Island. Soon after, it began to build Swire Sugar Factory and put it into operation in 1883. Due to the growing trade of raw sugar imported by Swire Steamship Company from Java, the Philippines and North Queensland, and the two ready-made markets in China and Japan, the sugar factory of Swire Sugar has become the largest and most advanced factory in the world. By the end of19th century, the company had a small sugar fleet.
At that time, the fleet of Blue Funnel and Swire Steamship Company was huge, and it was obvious that it was necessary to establish its own maintenance facilities in the Far East. As Hong Kong is an excellent deep-water port and an ideal place for ship repair, 1990, Swire built Swire Wharf on a piece of land next to Swire Sugar Factory. This huge ten-year plan was carefully designed by Scott Shipbuilding (the main shipbuilding company of Swire Steamship Company at that time) and put into practice under the leadership of henry james Scott (1845- 19 12). After John Swire died in 1898, Scott succeeded him as the senior partner of the company. As a descendant of this shipbuilding family, Scott was born in butterfield &; Swale has been working in the company since its establishment, and has always been John Swale's trusted deputy. Swire Dock built the first inland river trading ship "Shashi" for Swire Steamship Company in 19 10, and soon cooperated with Scott Company to build a coastal trading ship for the company. Swire Wharf later became the largest wharf in Hong Kong and one of the most enterprising employers, providing houses, hospitals and schools for employees.
At the same time, the company continues to represent many famous British companies. By1mid-1970s, the company had set foot in the insurance industry, acting as the predecessor of Royal Insurance and Guardian Royal Exchange. By 1990, Swire had the largest fire insurance business in Shanghai, and had a considerable maritime and accident insurance business portfolio in the name of Swire. In the next 90 years, insurance has been an important business area of Swire. In the early days, the company also represented some banks in small coastal ports. In the 1980s, it even published its own Taikoozhuang "banknote", which is a popular currency in Shantou, southern China.
19 14 years, when the original partnership agreement expired, the British Swire Group became a limited company, and the first chairman was John Jack, the eldest son of John Samuel Swire (1861-1933). In the following twenty years, under the leadership of Jack and his brother (George) Warren Swar (1883- 1949), the shipping industry has made great progress. Warren Swire took over as the chairman of the company on 1927. By the end of 1920s, foreign steamboats were sailing in the inland river of China, but the economic recession in 1930s had a slow impact on the business here, so the fleet scale expanded, prompting the company to launch new business in Shanghai. Finally, in 1934, Swire opened the Oriental Paint, Color &; Varnish factory
● Self-improvement in adversity
Taikoo Wharf (about 1925).
The second world war destroyed the business kingdom that Taigu had worked so hard to build. After the war, the company's property in China was completely looted or destroyed, and even the interior of its London office was searched. Swire Steamship's fleet was not completely lost, and more than 30 ships were missing. Swire Wharf and Swire Sugar Factory in Hong Kong were also destroyed by American shells.
At that time, the Yangtze River was closed to foreign ships, and China kept increasing restrictions on coastal ports.
The van of Swire Sugar.
This is a harbinger of the company's gradual withdrawal from Chinese mainland after the 1949 revolution. This was a turning point, but under the leadership of Jack Swire's son, John Jock Kidston Swire (1893- 1983), the company made a comeback from this crisis and became a stronger company. 1950, Swire Sugar resumed production, and Swire Dock also built the first 6000-ton ship for Swire Shipping Company.
Although Swire Steamship Company is headquartered in Hong Kong, it has shifted its business focus to Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, and its business network along the Pacific coast is also expanding day by day, setting an example for the regular container ship business that the company has been operating since then.
1952, in order to consolidate the foundation of the above-mentioned shipping business, Swire Group of Britain was once again directly active in Australia, where it invested in a small land transportation company to conduct experiments. The success of this investment inspired the company to acquire the management equity of Frigmobile, a frozen goods transportation company, in 1956, and then invested in refrigeration, frozen goods transportation and special land hauling. These investments have now become Swire's main business in Australia.
During this period, Swire Co., Ltd. also began to establish business in Hong Kong. First 1946, Taikoo &; Maclean will lay a solid foundation for the development of various international franchise businesses in the future. 1948, the company moved the paint factory to the rented building after the reconstruction of Taikoo Wharf in Hong Kong. Since then, the company has continuously developed various types of specialized business, ranging from painting and aluminum can manufacturing to waste treatment services.
● The birth of airlines
Jock Swire is determined to open up new business directions for the company. He believes that air transport is the key to the future development of the world after the war, so he actively seeks air agency business for Swire, and from 1947, part of the resources originally invested in rebuilding Swire Wharf are used to develop aircraft engineering facilities at Kai Tak Airport. 1950, Pacific Aviation Maintenance Service Company (PAMAS) and Jardine Air Maintenance Co merged to form Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company (HKAEC), a world-renowned aircraft engineering company.
1948, jock swire persuaded the board of directors to further invest the company's remaining funds in another aviation business, and purchased 45% shares of Cathay Pacific Airlines. At that time, Cathay Pacific was founded two years ago by American Roy Farrell and Australian Sydney de Kandrow. They got to know each other because they flew C47 planes over the famous "Hump" route and crossed the Himalayas from India to China during the war. The company's first aircraft was the redundant American military aircraft DC3 (Dakota) purchased by Roy, nicknamed Betsy. In just two years, they expanded their fleet, adding six DC3 planes and a catalina seaplane.
However, in 1948, Roy and West Germany were in trouble. They need cash to reorganize this small enterprise, so they face a severe takeover threat in the local area, and Hong Kong may impose new landing rights restrictions on foreign airlines. At this time, Swire bought the controlling stake in this small company, and since then, the development of Hong Kong aviation industry has become the pride of Jock Swire.
1959, Cathay Pacific purchased the first turboprop aircraft-Roche L 188 Electra. This year is a milestone for Cathay Pacific Airlines, because it won the right to fly north to Japan and south to Sydney. At this time, Cathay Pacific became an out-and-out regional airline, and entered the jet era after receiving the first Conville -880M aircraft in 1962.
● Develop new business areas.
1965, Swire acquired the American company Hong Kong Bottle Federation Company. This company owns the exclusive bottling business of Coca-Cola in Hong Kong. At that time, the annual output of bottling plants in Hong Kong was10.04 billion bottles. 1974, the company changed its name to swire bottling plant. At that time, its annual output reached1.800 million bottles, and the company was among the top 50 bottlers of cola in the world. Today, Swire is one of the largest Coca-Cola bottling plants in Asia and the United States.
For Taikoo, the 1970s was an era of rapid change. In the early 1970s, container transportation developed rapidly, and the growth of Swire Terminal exceeded the capacity of its Hong Kong Island location, so the company decided to close the terminal. 1972, Swire Dock merged with Huangpu Dock, the oldest dock in Hong Kong, to form United Dock, with its base in Tsing Yi. At that time, Swire had begun to participate in the development of the new international container terminal in Kwai Chung, Hong Kong. In the same year, Swire also acquired the equity of modern container terminal, an advanced container handling facility.
Swire Dock &; The engineering company was renamed Swire Foreign Firm Co., Ltd. (1Swire Co., Ltd. in 1990s). This is a ready-made holding company, holding all Swire's business in Hong Kong. The appearance of Swire Company symbolizes the birth of modern Swire Group, and also marks the end of butterfield's long-forgotten rights and interests in the company. The word Butterfield in the English company name has also been changed to Swire to highlight the corporate image of the group.
1972, Swire Sugar also closed its baking factory, focusing on sugar products and packaging business. In the mid-1970s, Taikoo Real Estate Company, which was newly established by Taikoo and was responsible for real estate development and management, began to build Taikoo City by using large areas of land vacated by shipyards and sugar factories in the eastern part of Hong Kong Island, bringing a brand-new urban look to this area. Taikoo Shing is the first private housing estate in Hong Kong. Together with the retail/office complex in Taikoo Shing Center (its underground parking lot was built in the former site of Taikoo Dry Dock), it is the first famous commercial project developed and managed by Taikoo Real Estate. Similar projects include Pacific Place, Pacific Place and Festival Pedestrian Street, which have brought a new interpretation to the development of commercial buildings in Hong Kong.
Cathay Pacific added the first Boeing 707 long-haul aircraft to its fleet in 1973. In the following ten years, the company developed rapidly, introducing L101series Samsung wide-body aircraft, and purchasing the first Boeing 747-200 jumbo jet in 1979, which rapidly expanded the company's strength. The following year, Cathay Pacific opened its first direct flight to London and became a real international airline.
The revolutionary changes in1970s also included other new developments in Swire, the most notable of which included 1975' s establishment of Swire North Offshore Company, an offshore oil support company, and 1976' s acquisition of the equity of Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited. During this period, the parent company Swire Group also tried to invest in offshore oil business. 1979 acquired Swire EPD, a supplier specializing in North Sea transportation equipment (later became a business department of Swire Group, named Swire Oilfield Services). Swire Group of the United Kingdom is also involved in land transportation and material handling in Australia. 197 1 year, it acquired Transwest Transportation Company, and acquired shares of Steam Shipping Trading Company in Papua New Guinea and James Finlay, a tea trader in Glasgow.
In the late 1970s, Swire made its first investment in the United States. Swire Property acquired part of the property rights in Miami, and Swire Company obtained the bottling franchise of Coca-Cola in Salt Lake City for the first time. 1982, British Swire Group merged the frozen product storage company, United States Cold Storage, into its wholly-owned subsidiary, and soon made persistent efforts in Australia. 1988, the company merged W. Woodmason, a refrigeration service provider, into its wholly-owned subsidiary. Five years later, John Swire &; Sons Pty acquired the cold storage in South Australia, further expanding the company's share in the refrigeration service market.
Swire is a major commercial landlord in New South Wales and South Queensland.
Swire also began to invest in animal husbandry in Australia in the 1980s. 1983, Swire Group and its affiliated company James Finley jointly acquired half the shares of Clyde Agricultural Company. Since then, Clyde (now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swire Group) has expanded its business from cotton cultivation to wool and beef, and its land holdings have increased 20 times, covering more than 2 million acres of land in New South Wales and Queensland, including some of the most famous animal husbandry in Australian history.
During this period, Swire Company in Hong Kong continued to develop its trading business. 1983 acquired marathon sporting goods chain stores, 1987 acquired the franchise of reebok sports casual shoes. In the same year, Swire began to set foot in environmental protection services and waste treatment business, which later became an important business area of Swire. Swire has successively entered into partnership with Browning Ferris Industries and SITA International, becoming the main contractor of waste treatment projects of the Hong Kong government, operating a number of landfills and providing waste transfer services, including using a number of small container ships designed and operated by HUD Marine, an associate company of Swire, to transport waste to a number of outlying islands in Hong Kong.
Since 1980s, Swire has also started to reinvest in mainland China, including joint investment with China International Trust and Investment Company (CITIC Company) for many times, which has been the major shareholder of Cathay Pacific since 1987. Investment is concentrated in beverage and manufacturing business, which makes Swire lay a solid foundation in China's modern industry.
Until 1990s, this trend did not weaken, when HKAEC and its business partners jointly established an aircraft overhaul company-Xiamen Swire Aircraft Engineering Company in Xiamen, south of China. By the end of 1994, Swire had cooperated with Buniman, Carlsberg, Tate &; Lyle signed a joint venture agreement to operate paint oil production, wine making and sugar refining in Chinese mainland. Up to now, Swire's trade business in the Mainland includes a series of brand-name sports shoes such as Reebok and Lockport.
In the 1990s, Swire made a major breakthrough in aviation business, including the acquisition of shares of Hong Kong regional airline Dragonair (now its wholly-owned subsidiary) and all-cargo airline Huamin Airlines, and in 1995, Hong Kong Aeronautical Engineering and Rolls-Royce Company established Hong Kong Aeronautical Engine Maintenance Service Company to take over the engine overhaul business of Hong Kong Aeronautical Engineering.
1999, Swire Company obtained the exclusive agency of Volvo Cars in Taiwan Province Province 20 years ago, and also obtained the exclusive agency of Francis Blackwell Forbes and Kia Motors in Taiwan Province Province, so as to expand the automobile trade business. In 2002, Taiwan Province Taikoo Automobile won the franchise of Audi, which increased Taikoo's share in the luxury car market in Taiwan Province Province.
From the late 1990s to the early 20th century, Swire Group Limited, the British parent company of Swire, increased some major businesses. 1994, the company acquired Kalari, a bulk carrier in Victoria, Australia, which further enhanced Swire's professional position in the Australian land transport market. After the acquisition, Swire Group is determined to expand its scale and provide specialized warehousing and distribution services throughout Australia. 1996, British Swire Group acquired Collins &; Leahy's majority stake in order to further enhance its strength has been established in Papua New Guinea. Collins company. Leahy is a major trading group in the highlands of Papua New Guinea and a shareholder of the shipping trading company. In 2000, Collins &; Leahy became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swire Group, and then Swire's shares in the listed company Steamship Group increased to 72%. In 2005, the shipping company acquired Collins &; Most of Leahy's business in Papua New Guinea covers trade, manufacturing, hotels, real estate, shipping and transportation, while Collins &; Leahy still retains its real estate, aviation and agricultural businesses.
Frigmobile is a swire refrigeration brand deeply loved by consumers.
2002 1 1 month, John Swire &; Sons Pty Ltd has acquired most of the refrigeration and distribution assets of P. Cleland Enterprises Ltd, which is the largest single investment of Swire in Australia so far, greatly increasing the strength of the group in the Australian refrigeration market and winning a number of new major distribution contracts, in preparation for Swire's merger with the three major companies in the Australian refrigeration industry in 2004.
In Britain, Swire Group Limited increased its share to 100% when James Finlay plc, a famous tea producer, celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2000. James Finley is a joint venture company of Swire Co., Ltd. As for Swire Group's oldest operating company in the UK, Swire Steamship Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary registered in the UK. In 2003, it acquired Bank Line and Indotrans.
In the first decade of 2 1 century, Swire's investment in Chinese mainland continued to grow. In 2002, Swire Real Estate, as a major real estate developer in Hong Kong, signed a joint venture agreement to develop and manage a 4 million square foot comprehensive development project in Tianhe District, a prime location in Guangzhou. It is expected to be completed in 20 10 and named as "taikoo hui-Guangzhou Newspaper Culture Square". Swire Property's share in this project has increased to 97%.
At the end of 2004, Swire Shengda Company began to build a new hazardous waste incineration plant in Shanghai, with an annual capacity of 60,000 tons, which will become the largest and first hazardous waste treatment facility in China designed according to EU environmental standards.
In aviation, AEC will increase its shareholding in Xiamen Swire Aircraft Engineering Company to 54.55%, and Xiamen Swire Aircraft Engineering Company has built a sixth hangar to further improve its handling capacity and expand the service scope provided by Xiamen Gao Qi International Airport. In 2004, the company began to carry out the modification plan of Boeing special cargo plane, and converted Boeing 747-400 passenger plane into all cargo plane. Xiamen Swire Aircraft Engineering Co., Ltd. is one of the few companies in the world authorized to carry out such projects. In 2005, Port Machinery Engineering Company and Xiamen Swire Aircraft Engineering Company signed a letter of intent to jointly develop the hangar facilities of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. After leaving Beijing 13 years, Cathay Pacific Airlines reopened its daily passenger flights to and from Beijing in 20031February, and began to operate daily passenger flights to Shanghai in 20061February. The company also obtained the right to operate passenger flights to and from Xiamen.
In 2006, Cathay Pacific Airlines celebrated its 60th anniversary. The highlight of this year is that Cathay Pacific, Swire Pacific, China International Airlines and their parent company AVIC announced that they have reached an equity restructuring agreement with CITIC Pacific. According to this unprecedented agreement, Dragonair, the main regional passenger airline, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific, and continued to operate under the original brand under the management of Cathay Pacific, while Cathay Pacific and Air China finally held the equity of the other 17.5%. This cooperative relationship is of great benefit to Cathay Pacific's customers, shareholders and employees, and brings more cooperation opportunities for Cathay Pacific and Air China. In this plan, the two sides will jointly establish air transport facilities in Shanghai, expand code sharing arrangements, implement joint airline arrangements between Hong Kong and major cities in the Mainland, and send business representatives to each other. By the end of 2006, Cathay Pacific's wide-body fleet had exceeded 100. After this breakthrough, the largest aircraft ordering plan in history was announced, including ordering 18 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft delivered between 2007 and 20 10 and 3 Airbus A330-300 aircraft delivered in 2008.
Today, Swire has more than113,000 employees worldwide. Although its business is diversified and spread all over the world, the British Swire Group is still a family business: the current honorary president and permanent president are descendants of John Swire, the founder of Swire, who started in Liverpool.