Inchcape Shipping Services

A global ship agency and marine services group with its international headquarters in London, helping ships with everything they need when they arrive in port.

About Inchcape Shipping Services

Inchcape Shipping Services, known as ISS, helps ships when they arrive in port. A port agent works on behalf of the ship's owner or operator to arrange pilots, tugs, berths, customs paperwork, fuel, supplies, repairs and crew changes. ISS says it has been in the UK for over 100 years, and its UK page describes it as one of the country's leading port agency firms, covering 12,500 kilometres of coastline. It serves cruise, dry bulk, naval and government, roll-on roll-off, tanker, general cargo and project cargo shipping.

The UK services listed include full, protective and bunker (fuel) agency, canal transit and husbandry, which means looking after a ship's day-to-day needs in port, as well as dry docking, marine machinery and survey services, project logistics and a marine supply chain hub. ISS also handles import and export customs entries for cargo across UK ports, and has a dedicated team for safety and security declarations for imports to Great Britain and Northern Ireland. A separate unit looks after crew logistics. We did not find a formal mission statement or values list, so none is claimed.

The UK is also the base of the group's global headquarters. The page lists 13 UK offices: London International Headquarters, a Regional Operations Centre for North Europe at Grangemouth, Fawley, Grimsby, Humber, Liverpool, Milford Haven, Sheerness, Southampton, Teesport, Thames and Felixstowe, and a crew logistics office. Companies House shows Inchcape Shipping Services (UK) Ltd was incorporated on 24 March 1924, originally under the name Mogul Steamship Company, with its registered office at 60 Fenchurch Street in London. Globally, the site menu refers to about 260 offices in 60 countries and a presence at over 2,200 ports.

The page names the UK general manager and the UK operations manager, a sign that the agency offices are run by experienced port people. We did not find any statement about workplace culture, staff numbers or testimonials, so we leave those out rather than guess. What the page does show is a spread of work across commercial ports, energy terminals, naval and cruise calls, which is why many ship agents describe the job as different every day. That is a general point about the industry, not a claim from the company.

The jobs at an agency like this include port agents and agency operators who coordinate ship calls, customs and compliance specialists, marine services and supply coordinators, crew logistics staff who handle travel and visas, and finance, IT and commercial staff in the London headquarters. If you like geography, languages, problem solving and working with people from all over the world at short notice, ship agency is a lively and little-known part of the shipping industry.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Full, protective and bunker agency, husbandry and canal transit for visiting ships.', 'title': 'Port agency'}
• {'desc': 'Machinery, survey, project logistics and ship supply.', 'title': 'Marine and supply services'}
• {'desc': 'Import and export customs entries and safety and security declarations.', 'title': 'Customs and compliance'}

Key facts

• In the UK for over 100 years; UK is the base of the global headquarters (company UK page)
• 13 UK offices listed, including London, Grangemouth, Liverpool, Southampton and Teesport
• UK company incorporated 24 March 1924 (Companies House)
• About 260 offices in 60 countries and over 2,200 ports worldwide (company site)

Website: www.iss-shipping.com