I started as deputy news editor on Lloyd’s List, the world’s second oldest continuously printed newspaper, working with around 30 people producing a broadsheet title focused on maritime sectors in all their glory, be it bulk, tankers, containers, ferries, ports and insurance to name but a few.
I worked alongside the news editor Chris Mayer, who remains a drinking pal today. One of my tasks was to roll up the overnight agency feed that spewed out on paper. On a Monday morning you would end up with what looked like four or five massive toilet rolls of international news, and you had to go through them to find maritime stories.
There was still a subs desk then and you had to liaise with them, the senior reporters in the newsroom, some with more than 20 years experience, plus the stringers and salaried outpost journalists in Hong Kong, Washington, Cologne, Athens and Singapore.
All of this had to be coordinated to produce the daily, plus there were regular Sunday shifts when the newsroom had a skeleton staff. There were transitions to various what would now be called content management systems for the hard copy and later the website.
On one occasion, I remember walking back to the office after interviewing a logistics executive near the Paul Street offices in London when I saw people crowding around one of the big TV screens in a shop window. Curious to know what was going on I saw the twin towers aflame. It was September 11, 2001. When I got to the newsroom, work had already started on remaking the next day’s paper, with brilliant reporting from our US reporter, the late John McLaughlin.
Berliner format and a press day to remember
It was clear that the switch to web-based content and ending of the print edition was approaching ever more quickly. Before that happened, there was the redesign to a Berliner format on the Guardian presses in London.
Everything went well until we had a power cut on the Berliner launch press day. The lights went out and the computers died. Eventually, the printers blinked back to life and we got it out, but it was a long, long day, as the faces below [on the left, Richard Meade, now managing editor of Lloyd’s List, and on the right, Julian Bray, now editor of Trade Winds) clearly demonstrate.
Ich bin ein Berliner!
During my 17 years at the Lloyd’s List group, I had many roles: deputy news editor, Brussels correspondent, ports and logistics editor and news editor, before becoming editor of the sister title, the monthly Containerisation International magazine, working with the Queen of Containers, Janet Porter.
I also worked with Damian Brett, who was to join me at my next publication, back to the future, and a return to Air Cargo News.
