Portus Mercaturae
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| Type | Limited company by shares |
| Founded | 1842 |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, Oceania, United Kingdom |
| Key People | Sir Arthur Banks (Chairman and CEO) |
| Industry | Transport |
| Products | Port services, shipping |
Portus Mercaturae Limited, often referred to simply as Portus Mercaturae or PM Ltd., is a UK based company involved with port operations and limited shipping services largely within the United Kingdom itself and is accordingly headquartered in Philadelphia, where it maintains a substantial presence within the Port of Philadelphia. The company is listed on the Philadelphia Exchange (PHEX.)
Contents
Current Organisation
PM Ports
- Philadelphia
- Artega
- Queensbury
- Port Hamptonshire
- Regal
- Devonport
- Avinapolis
- Port Elizabeth
- Charlotte
- Port Blair
- Cayenne
- Nouvea-Luxembourg
- Port Boukhari
- Coloniale-Au-Guyane
- Dawesport
- Hawkingsport
- Portchester
PM Shipping
Ships
- 327 container vessels
- 12 crude oil tankers
- 8 LNG tankers
- 8 gas tankers
- 6 cable-laying vessels
- 20 other specialized vessels
Terminal Facilities
While the company holds the lease to numerous ports in the United Kingdom, it maintains terminal facilities in many more ports thus providing greater access for its ships and the cargo they carry.
- Philadelphia
- Breningrad
- Portsmouth
- Artega
- Queensbury
- Caliz
- Port Hamptonshire
- Westport
- Regal
- Devonport
- Avinapolis
- Port Elizabeth
- Port Royal
- Charlotte
- Port Marlton
- Port Melbourne
- Providence
- Port Blair
- Cayenne
- Nouvea-Luxembourg
- Port Boukhari
- Coloniale-Au-Guyane
- Dawesport
- Hawkingsport
PM Ferries (sold 22 April 2005)
Formerly the least profitable division of Portus Mercaturae, PM Ferries was sold to the ASTN Group where it was incorporated into ASTNâs existing ferry and ship-borne passenger services. Under the deal ASTN has limited rights to ferry terminals located within ports controlled by Portus Mercaturae.
History
Portus Mercaturae Limited began as a small-time company that dealt with the unloading of wares and cargo on the docks of Georgetown along the New Thames River in 1842. Initial successes led the family-owned business to expand its operations to the ports of St. Brendans and Philadelphia.
By the 1930s, however, the global economic downturn forced the company to sell many of its assets, especially in St. Brendans and Georgetown. The company focused its efforts on developing its holdings in Philadelphia, which was seen by the company as more viable in the long-term owing to its closer proximity to international waters (as St. Brendans fronts the Azazian Sea and not the Pacific Ocean.)
In the 1980s, as inter-island travel expanded, the company diversified its portfolio and added a ferrying division as well as a shipping division. Originally seen as the main form of transit between the islands, ferries lost their primacy to the massive rail networks established by the Democratic Socialist Party in the early to late 1990s.
Thus, in early 2005 the company shifted its freight-orientated ferries to its shipping division then sold the ferry division outright to the ASTN Group, the Azazian Sea Transportation and Networking Group. The move allowed the company to save money and invest its capital in its first major purchase outside of the United Kingdom.
The purchase in question involved the transfer of port control in the nascent nation of Guyana Island, where the operators of the ports of Cayenne, Nouvea-Luxembourg, Port Boukhari, and Coloniale-Au-Guyane sold their facilities to Portus Mercaturae. Later in 2006 the company leased the ports of two developed and one undeveloped port in New Albion, Dawesport and Hawkingsport belonging to the former group, Portchester to the latter.
