Company News

Premier Shipping & Packing Limited (PSP) is a privately owned freight company that is regarded as one of the leading freight forwarders in southern England.

Established in 1998 by Managing Director Frank Dixie, PSP has grown from strength to strength and now has as a dedicated network of agents worldwide and offices in London, across Europe, the Far East, Australia and USA.

Their head office is located in Hampshire; the hub of the global network. PSP's services include Worldwide boat transportation, marine spares, freight forwarding, letters of credit, export packing and international express couriers.

Premier Shipping and Packing Limited is the title sponsor of the Southampton Boat Show, Europes largest on-water exhibition and the ideal place for the marine industry to showcase the latest products and services. The three-year contract between PSP and the show organiser National Boat Shows has seen the show renamed as the PSP Southampton Boat Show.

Over 100,000 people visited last year’s Southampton Boat Show.

Seated L-R - Shaun Parsons & Frank Dixie Standing L-R - Darron Strange & Simon O'Neill

PSP are also involved in both youth sailing and RIB racing sponsorship, with their own Thundercat team, Team PSP, currently placed second in the 2008 National Championships. PSP are also the logistics provider and consultants for Powerboat P1. Powerboat P1 is the fastest -growing offshore series in the world, and with 14 races on 3 continents this year it has become a powerful marketing platform for the marine industry.

The company directors comprise of:-

Frank Dixie -  Born and raised in London and has been involved in the shipping Industry since leaving full time education. He was given the opportunity to work for a forwarding agency in the heart of London and thrived on the complexity and excitement the job offered.

At the age of twenty Frank decided to return to college and spent the next three years studying for an HND in business studies. Once qualified Frank returned to shipping and joined a freight agency to manage the National Iranian Oil and Gas Company movements from Europe to Iran.

He also specialised in project movements.

Frank moved to Hampshire in 1978 and following assessment of market needs formed his owned company, Chandler Freight Lines which eventually merged with bulk liquid giants Trans Ocean Distribution Ltd. During his time at Trans Ocean Frank opened offices in China, Russia and Australia. In 1998 Frank and his fellow directors made a successful bid to buy the forwarding division from Trans Ocean and immediately created Premier Shipping and Packing.

Shaun Parsons - Shaun has been involved with the company since it first started in 1978 when it was called Chandler Freight Lines Limited. In 1992 the company was taken over by American logistics firm Trans Ocean Distribution Limited.

From a background of general forwarding and turnkey projects for a Polymer Factory in Jeddah, Brickwork’s Factory in Riyadh and a Banana Puree factory in Ecuador over the 14 years with Chandler, Shaun expanded his knowledge with Trans Ocean Distribution when after a couple of years of working on the forwarding division he was promoted to the logistics part of the business as European Operations Manager.

During the 1998 Management buy-out, Shaun was part of the management team to restructure the new business now known as PSP.

Simon O'Neill -  Joined PSP in 1999 bringing with him an extensive knowledge of the commercial Boat Building industry gained whilst working for the FBM Group where he had spent the previous 30 years holding many senior positions in most areas of management.

As the Director responsible for the extremely successful FBM Support Services division Simon was responsible for securing and managing many highly profitable license build and refurbishment projects with both Government bodies and commercial organisations all around the world including the USA, Republic of Korea, Chile and Portugal.

As Group Commercial Director for the last 7 years at FBM he was responsible for shipping many Commercial Ferries up to 50 Metres and Patrol Boats up to 33 Metres to numerous countries including Hong Kong, Philippines, USA, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. This experience gained from the customer side is a very useful asset to the Marine Division.

Simon also served 5 years on the British Marine Equipment Association (BMEA) council, which he was elected on to in 1994 representing the Boat Building sector.

Darron Strange - Born and raised in The Midlands he moved to Hampshire in 1991. After working in various accounting roles and studying for CIMA, Darron first worked for CW Fellowes as part of their Financial Information Unit in 1998. Then after being Management Accountant for both a dotcom enterprise, quoted on the American Stock Exchange, plus a European Technical Recruitment agency, Darron returned to CW Fellowes as a Client Relationship Manager in 2003. Whilst managing a portfolio of clients including PSP, Darron moved over to PSP in 2006 as Finance Manager. It was at this time that PSP’s growth began to take significant leaps and it was felt that a permanent, senior, financial presence was needed within the Company. Whilst filling that role, Darron also brought extensive commercial experience to the Company and was invited on to the Board as Finance Director.

With Darron being trained by CW Fellowes, the relationship between PSP and CW Fellowes is a very proactive one, with CW Fellowes acting as an additional financial and advisory arm to the Company. CWF receive regular monthly management accounts and reports from Darron. These numbers give CW Fellowes a real insight into the company's financial performance on an ongoing rather than working from a once a year historical perspective. This enables CW Fellowes to take a more proactive rather than reactive stance.

This is especially useful in terms of year end tax planning measures where a detailed knowledge of the company's current performance leads to effective advice.

In addition to the formal arrangements above, CW Fellowes and PSP have a less formal but strong relationship on the six-a-side football field and golf course. These regular events have enabled staff of all levels to meet, further improving the business relationship.

CWF has acted for Premier Shipping & Packing Limited (PSP) since Frank Dixie led a management buyout from Transocean Distribution & Freight Services in 1998.

As PSP has grown and gone from strength to strength, CWF's relationship team has expanded and developed to meet the client's changing demands and needs. Most importantly, when a company reaches Premier's size, it expects instant responses from its professional advisers. Accordingly, CWF has expanded its relationship team to include two main points of contact, Adam Wilson and Mark Wright-Green, both of whom are fully aware of the Company's issues. This reduces the potential lead time for any responses.

This process is facilitated and has improved since PSP recruited a financial director, Darron Strange, in 2006.