page_title: Killick Martin & Company
section_title: Liner agencies (1864–1999)
hierarchical_section_title: Killick Martin & Company / History / Liner agencies (1864–1999)
caption_attribution_description: English: Lykes Line lake Freighter
context_page_description: Killick Martin and Company Ltd is a privately owned global transport and logistics company with its head office in the United Kingdom. The company can trace its origins back to 1861 when it was founded by Captain James Killick and James Henry Martin. The company provides ocean freight, air freight, road freight, customs clearance, warehousing and supply chain management services. The company today has 5 offices in the United Kingdom and a global network of agencies.The ultimate parent company is Atlantic Pacific Group Ltd.
context_section_description: William Thompson & Company / Ben Line
  1864–1914
  William Thomson & Company first engaged Killick Martin & Company to act as their agents in 1864 for the vessel Alexander. In 1869 for the vessel Ocean Chief in 1869, and then on four occasions for the vessel Araby Maid between 1870 and 1871.
  A gap of ten years took place before they acted again in 1872 and 1873 as agents for Benledi. By 1881 William Thompson’s ships were known as Ben Line and had started using the prefix ‘Ben’ within their names. Killick Martin & Company were appointed as agents for all Ben Line vessels in 1883, and within a few weeks loaded their first ship Benarty in Antwerp.  The timing for their appointment as agents was ideal in that it assisted with the transition of Killick Martin's business from ship owing to becoming liner agents.
  
  1914–1950
  The First and Second World Wars were challenging times for Killick Martin & Company and  Ben Line. In 1914 Ben Line had 21 ships, 14 of which were steamers and at the end of the war had lost 10. At the beginning of The a Second World War Ben Line’s fleet had risen to 20 ships, but by 1945 only 6 remained. 
  During The Second World War all British ships were requisitioned, but as far as possible the individual liner companies were allowed to continue loading their own ships in their own trades. 
  Killick Martin & Company’s offices in 7 Fen Court, were destroyed by bombing in May 1941.
  1950–1970
  Between 1950 and 1972, Ben Line continued to develop its liner services between Europe and the Far East, with Killick Martin & Company as its UK Agents operating fast, custom built tween deck vessels. Ben Line pioneered a number of new trade routes, and became one of the leading liner companies in the trade. 
  
  1970-1992
  Containerised services began in the Far East trade towards the end of 1971. Ben Line and Ellerman Lines together formed Ben Line Containers (BLC), with Ben Line owning 80% of the shareholding in March 1970 and appointed Killick Martin & Company Ltd as its agents. With these developments Killick Martin & Company found itself at the centre of the shipping industry's transition into containerisation of the Far East trade. 
  Three BLC container ships were constructed, Benalder VI (1972), Benavon IV (1973) and The City of Edinburgh (1973) each with a displacement of 75,000 tons and 3,000 TEU. During a years operation each of these vessels could do the work of 7 conventional vessels. 
  These ships operated within the 17 strong fleet of a three-nation consortium (the Trio Group) made up of Ben Line, Hapag-Lloyd, Mitsui-OSK (MOL),  Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Overseas Containers Ltd (OCL) all engaged in the Far East trade. Although the operation of the ships were integrated within Trio (the name coming from the companies owning the vessels originating in three countries, Great Britain, Germany and Japan) each company marketed its services separately, and BLC did this via Killick Martin & Company. 
  Trio’s UK service called at Southampton and Killick Martin & Company’s Southampton office managed all BLC ships. Offices were also opened within Barking, Birmingham and Leeds container bases. This expansion together with the general growth in other trade lanes with the move into containerisation saw Killick Martin & Company’s employee number grow to an altimeter high of 530 in 1974.
  BLC's ships served an expanding number of ports across the Far East throughout the 1970s. The ships were converted from steam turbine to diesel between 1980-1981. At this point container capacity was also increased on all three vessels. In the face of increasing competition on the Far East route, these three vessels were deemed in need of replacement by 1992, at which point the cost of doing so was too great and so they were sold to the East Asiatic Company (EAC) of Denmark in 1992, and Killick Martin & Company Ltd's agency terminated with the subsequent sale of EAC to A. P. Moller / Maersk Line in 1993.
  Alfred Holt & Company / Blue Funnel Line
  In 1920 Alfred Holt & Company’s ‘Blue Funnel Line’ started a service  with Ellerman Lines & Bucknall 
caption: Tillie Lykes (built 1972)
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