Lloyd's List is one of the world's oldest continuously-running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London as early as 1734. Now published daily, a recent issue was numbered 59,200 (2007). Known simply as 'The List',
Lloyd's List was begun by
Edward LloydEdward Lloyd ran the Lloyd's Coffee House in Lombard Street in the City of London which became a meeting place for merchants and shipowners. From the habit of their members to meet there, Lloyd's Coffee House spawned Lloyd's of London, Lloyd's Register, and Lloyd's List. There is no connection...
, the proprietor of
Lloyd's Coffee HouseLloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...
in the
City of LondonThe City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
as a reliable but terse source of information for the merchants' agents and insurance underwriters who met regularly in his establishment in
Lombard StreetLombard Street is a street in the City of London.It runs from the corner of the Bank of England at its north-west end, where it meets a major junction including Poultry, King William Street, and Threadneedle Street, south-east to Gracechurch Street....
to negotiate insurance coverage for trading vessels. The newspaper survives today to fulfil a similar purpose, although its circulation is now international, both paper and web-based, and it appears daily. As well as shipping news,
Lloyd's List today covers marine insurance, offshore energy, logistics, global trade and law. It boasts that for the shipping industry, the paper is "sometimes its conscience, too". Its timely international casualty reports, however, continue to be one of the paper's most important features, and are updated frequently in the Internet edition.
History
Predecessor publications are known. One historian, Michael Palmer, claims: "No later than January 1692, Lloyd began publishing a weekly newsletter, ‘Ships Arrived at and Departed from several Ports of England, as I have Account of them in London... [and] An Account of what English Shipping and Foreign Ships for England, I hear of in Foreign Ports’". However, claims that
Lloyd's List is the oldest or second-oldest continuously published newspaper in the world are disputed. The
World Association of NewspapersThe World Association of Newspapers is a non-profit, non-governmental organization made up of 76 national newspaper associations, 12 news agencies, 10 regional press organisations and individual newspaper executives in 100 countries...
lists three earlier, extant titles.
A copy of the 22 December 1697 edition, number 257, survives and is reproduced in McCusker, John J: "European Bills of Entry and Marine Lists: Early Commercial Publications and the Origins of the Business Press, Part II: British Marine Lists and Continental Counterparts." Publication was weekly until March 1735, when it increased to semi-weekly, on Tuesdays and Fridays according to Palmer. A rival "New Lloyd's List" was launched in 1769, in conjunction with the
New Lloyd's Coffee HouseLloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...
in Pope's Head Alley, which, with the newspaper, evolved into the institutions known today. The paper went daily on 1 July 1837, and was published every day but Sunday. In July 1884,
Lloyd's List was merged with the
Shipping and Mercantile Gazette.
According to
Directory of Lloyd's and London Insurance Market, a publication dubbed
Lloyd's News was first published by Edward Lloyd in 1696, the earliest extant copy of which is dated 1701. This source reports that
The List was established as a regular weekly publication by Edward Lloyd in 1734.
In 1914 ownership of The List was transferred to the
Corporation of Lloyd'sLloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...
, which was incorporated by an
Act of ParliamentAn Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
in 1871. In 1973 it was transferred to a division, Lloyd's of London Press Ltd, and subject to a management buy-out in 1995 to become LLP Ltd. In 1998, LLP merged with IBC Group plc to form
Informa plcInforma plc is a multinational publishing and conference company with its head office in Zug, Switzerland and its registered office in St Helier, Jersey. It has offices in more than 43 countries and more than 8,500 employees...
, which continues to edit and publish
Lloyd's List in Mortimer Street, London.
Over the years, Lloyd's List spawned several spin-off titles, including sister title
Insurance Day. In 2002, a long tradition came to an end when the journal ceased to refer to ships as "she", adopting the neutral word "it" instead.
Personnel
- On 26 January 2011, senior staff included:
- Editor: Richard Meade
- Chief Executive, Publishing: Fotini Liontou
Reporters on the Newspaper included Markets Editor Michelle Weise-Bockmann, Janet Porter - winner of the Seahorse Journalist of the Year prize, David Osler, Roger Hailey, Steve Matthews, Gavin van Marle, Liz McCarthy, Craig Eason, Martyn Wingrove, Nigel Lowry, Rajesh Joshi, Colum Murphy, Keith Wallis and Hui Ching-hoo.
Lloyd's List also has correspondents in 17 countries.
External links