Key personnel
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Frank Dixie
Managing Director
Born and raised in London, Frank Dixie has been involved in the shipping industry since leaving education. He was given the opportunity to work for a forwarding agency in the heart of London and thrived on the complexity and excitement the job offered. At 20 Frank decided to return to college and spent three years studying for an HND in business studies. Once qualified, Frank returned to shipping and joined a freight agency to manage the National Iranian Oil and Gas Company movements from Europe to Iran. He also specialised in project movements.
Frank moved to Hampshire in 1978 and following assessment of market needs, formed his own company, Chandler Freight Lines which eventually merged with bulk liquid giants Trans Ocean Distribution Ltd. During his time at Trans Ocean, Frank opened offices in China, Russia and Australia. In 1998 Frank and his fellow directors made a successful bid to buy the forwarding division from Trans Ocean and immediately created Premier Shipping and Packing.
The company has since expanded enormously and has a global network of offices and agents to prove it, as well as high-profile links and partnerships with household names in the marine industry. In addition to worldwide boat transportation, the company is made up of international freight forwarding, international couriers, marine spares and export packing divisions.
PSP had its first venture into major sponsorship in 2008, when it became the first ever sponsor of the PSP Southampton Boat Show. This proved to be such a success that the company decided to build on this and rolled the sponsorship out to cover a total of three years.
Shaun Parsons
Director
Shaun’s involvement with the company goes back to 1978 when it was Chandler Freight Lines Limited.
From a background of forwarding and turnkey projects in Jeddah, Riyadh and Ecuador across 14 years with Chandler, Shaun expanded his knowledge with Trans Ocean Distribution when, after a couple of years of working on the forwarding division, he was promoted to the logistics side of the business as European Operations Manager.
He later boosted his management skills, controlling seven European operational departments in Belgium, Spain, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy and the UK. Shaun was part of the management team that restructured the business now known as PSP during the 1998 management buy-out.
Shaun went on to establish the operations department with his overseas links and worldwide knowledge of the industry. His development with the oil field industry in Texas USA has given PSP an increased exposure in the Middle and Far East markets, where major Texan manufacturers have expanded their pipeline equipment supply.
Freight negotiations with all the major steamship companies encompassed the finance department, which naturally came under his wing. Shaun reports to the board and Managing Director on the finance and operations of the company and the development of the business.
He became a Director and board member in September 2000.
Colin Redman
Managing Director (PSP London)
Upon leaving school Londoner Colin joined TNT Skypak’s international courier division, where he stayed for three years before transferring into the Airfreight section of TNT.
In 1980 Colin moved over to Mercury International and joined a special unit that dealt only with dangerous goods.
Since then he has held several positions, involving various aspects of work, including TV and media crews within departure terminals, full charters, live animals, explosives and firearms.
Colin currently holds both DGSA and section five licenses.
Alan Rogers
Head Office Manager
During his shipping career Alan helped set up factories in Poland and Slovakia for a UK client and was involved in Customs discussions in these countries, overseeing deliveries from Japan. Alan also started a major toy importer from scratch, setting up all the import licensing and bonded warehouses.
Visits to Hong Kong and Japan helped establish agents in this part of the world and increased his knowledge of the culture of the people in these countries.
Alan has seen the advent of containerisation and the relaxation of the customs borders during his career, but in this ever-changing business there are still more challenges ahead.
Enlargement of the EU has reduced the amount of documentation to be prepared by the freight forwarder, but cargo still has to be moved and the role remains an important part of the logistics chain.
Simon O'Neill
Director
Simon joined PSP in 1999, bringing with him an extensive knowledge of the commercial boat building industry gained working for the FBM Group, where he spent 30 years and held many senior positions in management.
As the Director responsible for the extremely successful FBM Support Services division, Simon was responsible for securing and managing many highly-profitable license build and refurbishment projects with both Government bodies and commercial organisations all around the world, including the USA, Korea, Chile and Portugal.
As Group Commercial Director for his last seven years at FBM, he was responsible for shipping many commercial ferries and patrol boats to numerous countries, including Hong Kong, the Philippines, USA, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. This experience gained from the customer side is a very useful asset to PSP’s Marine Division.
Simon also served for five years on the British Marine Equipment Association (BMEA) council, which he was elected on to in 1994 to represent the boat building sector.
Darron Strange
Finance Director
After working in various accounting roles and studying for CIMA, Darron first worked for CW Fellowes as part of their Financial Information Unit in 1998.
Then, after being Management Accountant for both a dotcom enterprise, quoted on the American Stock Exchange, and a European Technical Recruitment agency, Darron returned to CW Fellowes as a Client Relationship Manager in 2003. While managing a portfolio of clients that included PSP, Darron moved over to the company in 2006 as Finance Manager.
It was at this time that PSP’s growth began to take significant leaps and it was felt that a permanent, senior, financial presence was needed within the company. While filling that role, Darron also brought extensive commercial experience to the company and was invited on to the board as Finance Director.
