1946-1973 New Directions
1946 Rebuilding post-war
Category: Corporate, Beverages & Food Chain, Marine ServicesJack Swire's son, John Kidston Swire (1893-1983), known as "Jock", became Chairman of Swire. Under his leadership, Swire rebuilt its key operational businesses. By 1950, Taikoo Sugar and Taikoo Dockyard were back in full production. With Hong Kong as its home port, China Navigation began to establish new services to Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Its growing network of Pacific Rim services established the pattern for the liner trades in which the company participates to this day.
1946 A return to trading
Category: Trading & IndustrialButterfield & Swire and Maclaine Watson & Co. formed a Hong Kong-based trading joint venture, Swire & Maclaine. Swire’s return to general trading capitalised on the post-war shortages of every sort of commodity in Hong Kong and Mainland China.
1947 An aviation opportunity
Category: Corporate, AviationRecognising that air transport was the key to the future, Jock Swire used Taikoo Dockyard's engineering skills to develop an aircraft repair and maintenance facility, Pacific Air Maintenance and Supply Company ("PAMAS"), at Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airfield.
1948 Taking to the skies
Category: Corporate, AviationSwire acquired a 45% shareholding in a local airline, Cathay Pacific Airways. By this time, the airline had grown from its original single US Army surplus DC3 ("Dakota"), "Betsy", to a fleet of six DC3s and a Catalina flying boat. The growth of Hong Kong's airline was to become Jock Swire's special pride.
1948 A Hong Kong paint business
Category: Corporate, Trading & IndustrialSwire's Shanghai paint manufacturing business, Orient Paint, transferred to Hong Kong and merged with Duro Paint Manufacturing under the name Swire Duro.
1950 HAECO is born
Category: Corporate, AviationPacific Air Maintenance and Supply Company merged with Jardine Air Maintenance Company to form Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company ("HAECO") - today one of the world's leaders in its field.
1952-58, Diversifying in Australia
Category: Corporate ,Beverages & Food ChainSwire re-established headquarters in Australia and began to invest in the road haulage and cold storage sectors, commencing with freezer transport company, Frigmobile, which was by that time the country’s leading refrigerated truck operator.
1959
Category: Corporate, Marine Services1959 Taikoo Dockyard & Engineering Co. is floated on the Hong Kong stock market
1959 A regional airline
Category: AviationCathay Pacific Airways absorbed rival Hong Kong Airways, gaining northbound traffic rights to Taiwan region and Japan. It was a milestone year for Cathay Pacific: now truly a regional carrier, the airline inaugurated a scheduled service to Sydney with its first turboprop aircraft, the Lockheed L188 Electra.
1965 Ventures in bottling
Category: Corporate, Beverages & Food ChainSwire purchased Hong Kong Bottlers Federal Inc., an American-owned business that held the franchise to bottle Coca-Cola in Hong Kong. At that time, Hong Kong Bottlers’ output was 104 million bottles annually. Today, Swire Coca-Cola is one of the largest Coca-Cola bottlers in the world, and has the exclusive right to manufacture, market and distribute products of The Coca-Cola Company in 11 provinces and the Shanghai Municipality in the Chinese Mainland and in the HKSAR, Taiwan region, Vietnam and Cambodia. At 30th June 2023, Swire Coca-Cola manufactures 57 beverage brands and distributes them to a franchise population of 877 million people.
1966
Category: CorporateJohn Anthony Swire (1927-2016) becomes Chairman of the Swire group.
1972 Rationalisation
Category: Corporate, Beverages & Food Chain, Marine ServicesTaikoo Dockyard’s facilities on Hong Kong Island had been outgrown by the advent of large modern container ships. Swire took the decision to amalgamate with rival Hongkong & Whampoa Dock Company, forming Hongkong United Dockyards ("HUD Group"), which established premises at Hong Kong’s new container port in Kwai Chung. In the same year, Taikoo Sugar closed its refinery to concentrate on sugar products and packaging; it remains Hong Kong’s favourite sugar brand.
1972 Building blocks
Category: Corporate, PropertyThe closure of Taikoo Sugar Refinery and Taikoo Dockyard released a vast acreage of land in the Quarry Bay district of Hong Kong. A new company, Swire Properties, was incorporated to create a new urban landscape in the area - today known as Taikoo Place & Cityplaza - beginning with Taikoo Shing ("Swire City"), Hong Kong Island’s first private residential estate, and the retail/office complex Cityplaza (its underground car park formed from the old Taikoo dry-dock). These were to be the first of an extensive portfolio of "mixed-use" properties developed and managed by Swire Properties.