Raymond Miles, founder of CP Ships, dies

Raymond P. Miles, who built up the containership operations of CP Ships during the late 1990s, died Nov. 6 at the age of 71 following a brief illness.    Raymond P. Miles, who built up the containership operations of CP Ships during the late 1990s, died Nov. 6 from a brief illness. He was 71.
   At the time of his death, he served as advisory director to Stena AB.
   Miles started his shipping career in 1972 with Ocean Transport & Trading in Liverpool, and by the early 1980s became executive vice president of Barber Blue Sea, OTT’s roll-on/roll-off shipping joint venture with Wilh Wilhelmsen of Norway and Brostroms of Sweden.
   In 1985, he became managing director of startup Global Equipment Management, which promoted the “grey box” pooling concept to the liner shipping industry.
   Miles was named chief executive of transatlantic container-shipping operation Canada Maritime in 1988. Canada Maritime was part of Canadian Pacific’s shipping subsidiary CP Ships, which at the time included non-container shipping services. Miles, who took over as chief executive officer of CP Ships, withdrew the company from non-container shipping markets to focus solely on liner carrier activities.
   He is credited for taking CP Ships from a single-trade, four-vessel niche carrier with annual sales of $100 million to a global, top 15 carrier, terminal and logistics group serving 20 lanes with a fleet of 84 ships and annual sales of $3.6 billion. 
   Under his watch, CP Ships also acquired a number of smaller container carriers, including Australia-New Zealand Direct Line, Cast, Contship Containerlines, Italia Lines, Ivaran, Lykes Lines and TMM lines.
   In 2001, CP Ships was spun off from Canadian Pacific Ltd. as an independent, publically traded liner carrier, with listings on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges. In 2005, Miles headed the $2.3 billion sale of CP Ships to TUI AG, the Hamburg-based parent of Hapag-Lloyd. The merger resulted in Hapag-Lloyd becoming the fifth largest container-shipping company.
   He also served on the boards of various industry groups, including as the first chairman of the World Shipping Council, chairman of th Box Club, and non-executive director of West England P&I Club and the U.K. Chamber of Shipping.
   In his retirement, Miles remained active in various sports and charity fundraisers in his native United Kingdom.
   Miles is survived by his wife of 49 years, Susan Miles, his daughters Claire and Alice, and four grandchildren.