| 1888 | First commercial consignment of bananas arrives in London from
the Canary Islands where E.W. Fyffe had been with his wife Martha
while she recovered from tuberculosis |
| 1901 | Imperial Direct West India Mail Service Company is formed to
operate passenger and banana services between the UK and Jamaica
(Carribean) |
| 1902 | Elders & Fyffes Shipping Ltd is founded as a separate
company, but does not carry many passengers |
| 1910 | Elders & Fyffes is bought by the American United Fruit
Company but keeps their own identity |
| 1911 | The Imperial Direct Line closes, leaving E&F free to enter
the passenger business |
| 1911 | Elders & Fyffes become the first company in the world to
brand their fruit, using the Fyffes `blue label` |
| 1931-39 | Rotterdam / Bremerhaven - Jamaica services call at
Southampton |
| 1959 | The Surrey Shipping Company, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, is set
up in to own E&F-managed ships |
| 1967-88 | Southampton is the sole UK terminal for Elders &
Fyffes |
| 1969 | Elders & Fyffes is renamed Fyffes Group |
| 1988 | Fyffes transfer their UK operations from Southampton to
Portsmouth |
| 1996 | Fyffes acquires the Geest banana group |
