Interserve

Interserve plc is a multinational support service and construction company based in the UK, with a revenue of £3.2 billion in 2014 and a workforce of more than 75,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Reading, Berkshire and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History

Early history – 1884 to 1930s

Origins

Interserve traces its origins to 1884, when the London and Tilbury Lighterage Company Limited (LTLD) was formed to transfer goods by sailing barge to and from ships on the River Thames, London, England. A lighterage is the fee paid for the use of a Lighter, a large, open, flat bottomed barge, that could transport goods a short distance in shallow waters. At the time London was the busiest port in the world. Lightering provided a service much in demand in the overcrowded river because of the need to transship goods from ships berthed there and to convey them to the riverside wharves, where the larger open water cargo ships were unable to dock due to their size and draft or, to more efficiently and effectively deal with the number of ships congregating in the river. By 1887 the company is recorded as occupying premises of a former Lloyd's Register Proving House and Chain-Testing Shed and subsequent Police Station at Preston Road, West India Docks