Witherby Publishing Group


Witherby Publishing Group, formerly known as Witherby Seamanship, is a publisher of maritime, nautical and navigation training, reference and regulatory materials. The company is the resulting merger of Witherby Books and Seamanship International in January 2008. Beginning with its origins in 1740 it lays claim to being the oldest independent publisher in the English-speaking world.

Witherby are the official electronic distributors for the International Maritime Organization and publish work with numerous shipping bodies. These include the International Chamber of Shipping, the UK Chamber of Shipping, BIMCO, OCIMF and SIGTTO. Witherby are the sole official distributor of INTERTANKO publications. The company also publishes for North P&I, UK P&I Club, IMAREST, the International Association of Classification Societies and the Merchant Navy Training Board.

History

Witherby continue the tradition of publishing and bookselling initially started by Thomas Witherby in 1740. The collections of the early Witherby company are available at the London Metropolitan Archives. In 1998 Seamanship International began providing training materials for the maritime industry from Scotland and in 2008 the company bought out and merged with Witherbys moving the entire business to Scotland. The company has since expanded to become one of the largest maritime publishers in the world, publishing over 400 titles to over 110 countries in the world. It is estimated that there are more than a million Witherby ebooks in use on over 40,000 ships.

Location

The company has registered offices in Edinburgh, Scotland, with the main offices and warehouse being located in Livingston, Scotland.

Products

Witherbys publishes on a range of maritime technical and operational subjects including navigation, Ballast Water Management, ECDIS, oil tanker operations, LNG tanker operations, seamanship, ship stability and passage planning. In February 2019, in conjunction with BIMCO and International Shipcare, Witherbys released the 'Ship Lay-up Guide'.
In response to IMO efforts to require cyber security to be addressed under the International Safety Management Code, in November 2019, together with BIMCO and the International Chamber of Shipping Witherbys published the Cyber Security Workbook for Onboard Ship Use.

Awards

Awards for the publisher have included the Queens Award for Enterprise, a Lloyds List Training Award and a Green Award. In March 2017, the company won the Sea Transport Award for 'best marine training material publishing company'.