Michael Graham

Dear SCARA member,

We have received the following message from Patricia Graham following the sad death of Michael Graham this Tuesday. We offer Patricia and the family our sincere condolences.

I am writing to inform you of the death on Tuesday, 9th, June, ‘20 - of my husband, Michael Graham, in the Tunbridge Wells Care Centre, Tunbridge Wells - where he was being looked after, following a series of strokes. Michael was 96 years old. ( Several ‘co- morbidities‘ made him vulnerable to the Covid19 virus which ultimately led to his death.)

Michael’s experience of the container industry goes back to its very beginnings in the 1960s, when he oversaw the ‘little Neddy‘ committee that Introduced the then Labour Government / Barbara Castle to the intricacies of containerisation. Through that committee Michael met Kerry St.Johnston, one of its key members : Kerry subsequently invited him to join the nascent Overseas Container company in St.Mary Axe & head up its Economic Department. Michael’s experience of this period of OCL’s evolution is detailed at length in the chapters which he contributed to ‘the British Box Business’ published in 2010.

After his retirement in 1987 (?) from OCL Michael continued working for a further decade in the PDM industry - through the Chamber of British Shipping, as well as lecturing on Intermodalism / Maritime Economics at City Business School. He also conducted workshops, as a freelance consultant, on Intermodal Economics in venues from Ghent, in Belgium to Washington DC. His was a happy & fulfilling working life which he found continually engaging. He was always grateful for the opportunities that OCL offered, including the stimulus of working alongside many interesting people from a variety of disciplines, as well as the opportunity to play a part in one of the major environmental revolutions of recent times.