History
In the year 1813 a young boy of 11 left his Scarborough home and ‘signed on’ to the sailing brig “British Volunteer”, to begin a life-time association with the sea and shipping.
Over the next 20 years John Good developed his seagoing experience on sailing ships trading in the Baltic, White Sea and Mediterranean, before finally gaining his Master’s Certificate.
In 1833 he returned to England and set up an office in Hull, founding John Good & Co. as Ship Chandlers, Agents and Brokers, utilising the connections he had built up with Baltic and Finnish ship owners.
John developed the company over the next 30 years, expanding into owning his own ships. After retiring in 1864, two of his sons continued to run the company, and in 1883, John Good & Sons obtained its first regular liner agency, for the Finnish Steamship Company’s new cargo and passenger services between Finland and Hull. The development of this Finnish trade helped the company to prosper, and in 1908, the company became a private limited company, John Good & Sons Ltd.
After this, progress was hampered by a series of fires and the national strikes at the beginning of the 20th century and compounded by two World Wars. The wars disrupted the shipping lines to Finland and the Baltic, and damage from the German bombing of Hull destroyed several working premises.
After the Second World War, the company rebuilt, and gained new agencies from across Europe during the 1950s. During the second half of the century, John Good & Sons expanded and kept at the forefront of the industry, adapting quickly to developments such as palletisation, containerisation and ro-ro. In this period, the company also diversified, adding road haulage services and additional warehousing to its offering.
Today, the company is still family owned, and continues to expand. Now offering a complete service, from ship agency, liner agency and freight forwarding to warehousing and distribution, John Good Shipping is recognised across the UK as a leading provider of shipping services.
Timeline
| 1801 | John Good born |
| 1807 | Slavery abolished in British Empire |
| 1813 | John Good goes to sea |
| 1815 | Battle of Waterloo |
| 1826 | John Good becomes Master of his own vessel |
| 1833 | John Good opens chandlery store at 60, Salthouse Lane, Hull |
| 1854 | Crimean War starts and trade with Finland halts |
| 1864 | Joesph and Thomas Good take control of the company |
| 1869 | Suez Canal opens |
| 1870 | Good Bros & Co formed as a shipping line and the SS Caroline bought |
| 1876 | Death of John Good |
| 1901 | First Finnish travel programme issued by John Good & Sons |
| – | Death of Queen Victoria |
| 1908 | John Good & Sons Ltd formed |
| 1914 | Start of the First World War and Finnish business halts |
| 1925 | John Good & Sons appointed agent for United Baltic Corporation |
| 1929 | Wall Street Crash heralds the start of world depression |
| 1939 | Second World War Starts |
| 1941 | John Good & Sons offices destroyed by bombing |
| 1950 | John Good buys offices in London |
| 1955 | Hellenic Lines becomes John Good & Sons’ first general UK agency |
| 1961 | First manned space flight |
| 1962 | John Good & Sons (London) formed |
| 1965 | John Good & Sons open new offices in Ipswich |
| 1968 | Container terminal opened in Felixstowe |
| 1970 | Transtainer Systems formed |
| 1973 | Britain joins the Common Market |
| 1974 | General Cargo Brokers becomes a wholly owned subsidiary |
| – | Orwell Data Services formed |
| – | John Good & Sons takes a stake in North Sea Trailers |
| 1981 | John Good & Sons (Shipping) Ltd formed |
| 1984 | John Good becomes President of the ICS (Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers) |
| 1990 | First Gulf War |
| 2001 | Matthew Good joins the company |
| 2003 | John Rutherford appointed group managing director |
| 2005 | Cooper House Felixtowe opened |
| 2005 | New offices opened in Brentwood |
| 2006 | Major expansion of warehousing in Felixstowe and Felixstowe Warehousing Co Ltd formed |
| 2006 | Alan Platt appointed managing director of John Good Shipping |
| – | Matthew Good appointed director of John Good & Sons Ltd and John Good Shipping |
| – | New offices opened in Brentwood |
| – | Major expansion of warehousing in Felixstowe and Felixstowe Warehousing Co Ltd formed |
| 2007 | John Good Denizcilik (Turkey) formed |
| 2008 | Trans European Port Services acquired |
| 2009 | Focs Logistics formed as a joint venture with OPDR |
| 2010 | Dan Shipping & Chartering acquired |
| 2011 | Alan Platt and Matthew Good are Joint Managing Directors of John Good & Sons Ltd |
