BEN HAM & BOYESEN, INC.
BEN HAM & BOYESEN, INC.
THE development of the port of New York has been continuous for many decades, although its recent growth is without parallel. The shipping business has expanded at a remarkable rate, and the overseas trade of the port represents vessels coming from and clearing for practically every port in the Seven Seas. All sea roads lead to New York.
In the list of firms engaged here in the various branches of the shipping business are some names which have long been prominent. One of the most familiar of these is that of Benham & Boyesen, Inc., steamship agents, ship brokers and commission merchants, at 8-10 Bridge Street, a firm long identified with the city's shipping interests, and identified for years with the activities of ships making the transatlantic voyage. Few firms in the shipping business are better known and none is more highly esteemed.
The house was founded in the seventies by Isaac Benham and B. C. Boyesen, whose names are perpetuated in the present corporate name. Changes through death and retirement have oc-curred from time to time in the period of more than forty years from the founding of the enterprise, and after the death of the then senior partner, Max M. Normann, in the latter part of 19x5, the firm was incorporated. The present officers are H. Normann, president; Arthur F. Jones, vice-president; Th. Berg, secretary; O. Mathiesen, treasurer.
Mr. H. Normann, the president, has been con-nected with Benham & Boyesen continuously since 1879, and the other officers for a long period of time. They are thus familiar to the most remote detail with the steamship agency and brokerage business, and they have held up the ideals and traditions of this old and solid firm, by which it has for nearly half a century stood as a thoroughly tried and trusted agency, in whose hands the interests of owners are most faithfully represented.
Many prominent shipowners have placed their business at New York in the hands of Benham & Boyesen, and have always been well served by that firm. The business has developed in unison with the growth of the port of New York, and the firm has a recognized standing as one of the most substantial of the firms that represent shipping at New York.
The firm has represented the Norwegian- America Line, as general freight agents in the United States, since its inauguration of its New York-Norway Service in 1913. That line is one of the most important connections between the two countries in a commercial way, having regular direct sailings with steamships of good capacity. The firm also acted in a similar capacity for the Russian-America Line from 1907 to 1917.
In all its operations the firm is alert and efficient, and gives to its steamship agency the most careful attention, securing cargoes and finding business for its principals on the most satisfactory basis. The Norwegian-America Line, under their management, has attained a favorable place in the business community of New York, and those having business with Norway make a practice of shipping to that country via that line.
During the confusions and excitements of the war period this firm watched the situation carefully and in its ship brokerage department was able to close many charters that helped to relieve the congestion in the port. After the armistice and the lifting of the hampering embargoes and restrictions, the firm, having been carefully ar-ranging its plans, entered into closer relations with many foreign points, and placed their company in a position where it can command the best and most prompt service on consignments. The firm's long and active business career puts it in close touch with shipping and mercantile interests in all the principal foreign markets.
Every department of the business is ably man-aged by men who have long been identified with the port of New York and have become individually recognized as masters of the various duties and problems connected with shipping. Experience and close attention have maintained not only the reputation but also the vigor of the house. It was a small concern when Mr. H. Normann, now president, joined it forty years ago. But it was founded on good principles and has been run on methods that have earned it the deserved favor of the shipping world.
