This month, Bill Laidlaw, Sales Director for SeaFrance Limited, celebrated his 35th year in the ferry industry, having spent over 40 years in shipping.
His career began working as an office boy for P&O Ferries, and has seen him assigned to a number of high profile shipping projects, including setting up a fast ferry service for Qatar Shipping between Doha, Bahrain and Dubai. Between 1984 and 1994, Bill worked as Managing Director of Sealink Newhaven-Dieppe Ferries. He set up SeaFrance Limited in 1995 when Newhaven-Dieppe Ferries withdrew from the Sealink British Ferries pool.
Bill was given a blank sheet of paper by SeaFrance to set up the UK arm of the French operator, which in the past ten years, has grown from just one member of staff to nearly 200 employees, operating a fleet of six ferries, including superferries the SeaFrance Berlioz and the SeaFrance Rodin.
Bill Laidlaw commented: “Over the years I’ve seen fantastic growth in the ferry market and the development of new ships which has lifted the industry way beyond anybody’s expectations.”
