Founded in 1767,  the George Hammond Marine Ltd of today started as a shipping agency for vessels using the English Channel and the ports of Kent. In the early years the company had local offices in Dover, Ramsgate, Deal and Margate and the partners of the George Hammond Company, as it was then known, were appointed to represent the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of many European states. Today that tradition continues with the Director holding the position as Honorary Consul in Kent for Belgium, Denmark, France, Finland, The Netherlands & Sweden.

In the early part of the 20th century much of the company’s focus was based around Lloyd’s Agency activities on salvage work, primarily in the Dover Strait & those vessels which foundered on the Goodwin Sands.

With the growing popularity of Dover as port of call for trans-Atlantic cruise liners & general cargo thriving within the Granville & Wellington Docks, new services such as passenger handling, cruise ship agency, road transport, storage, customs clearance & stevedoring were added.

After the Second World War other opportunities such as deep sea pilotage arose, motor launch services at Dover and the stevedoring business grew steadily, handling new products such as fruit, vegetables, timber and grain.

The successful stevedoring business was sold to the port of Dover in December 2016 to coincide with the completion of the redeveloped cargo terminal in Dover Western Docks.

Our 255 years of varied experience in the shipping industry continues today with the highest standard of support our ship agency team addresses each daily challenge.