Page 7 - Turners Shipping Company Profile
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COMPANY HISTORY
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS A GLOBAL PLAYER
The company was established by David Turner in Today, Turners Shipping is arguably the biggest
1896, at a time when Ox wagons and sailing ships privately owned clearing and forwarding
were the primary modes of transport. Then called company in South Africa. We look beyond our
Turner and Company (Shipping) (Proprietary) borders and our global network enables us to
Limited, the business operated as a Customs provide a comprehensive value added logistics
Clearing agent from the newly established Port service on a door-to-door basis, to and from any
of Durban. location in the world.
ACKNOWLEDGING OUR FOUNDING FATHERS
In 1909, tragedy struck when David Turner, his wife and five children boarded the luxurious passenger
liner the SS Waratah intending to visit their ancestral home in England. The Waratah was the most
advanced vessel of its time and was regarded as unsinkable.
The ship, with 221 passengers and crew, left Durban
on July 26, 1909 but never reached Cape Town. No
sign of the ship or its passengers was ever found.
David Turner and his family were among those
who died at sea.
John Cochrane-Murray, who joined the company
in 1901, had lost his business partner but decided
to keep the business going, retaining the Turner
name in memory of his friend.
In memory of all those who lost their lives on the
Waratah, Turners Shipping has models of the ill-
fated liner displayed at all their offices.
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www.turnersshipping.co.za
