Southampton Marine Services Ltd (SMS Group)
Southampton Marine Services Ltd, trading as the SMS Group, is a UK ship repairer, marine engineering services provider and turnkey interior outfitter serving the commercial marine, cruise and defence sectors. Its work spans commercial ship repair and refit, welding, fabrication and pipework, mechanical and electrical engineering, diving and subsurface engineering, cruise interior outfit, and the repair and maintenance of marine estates and infrastructure such as caissons, penstocks, quaysides and linkspans. Formed from the coming together of names including Southampton Marine Services, Burgess Marine, Testbank Ship Repair, Small & Co. and Harland & Wolff, the group is headquartered at Western Docks in Southampton and trades from eight UK locations plus a US base. It operates a fully mobile service alongside a dedicated Lowestoft shipyard, working on planned and emergency work 24/7.
Southampton Marine Services Ltd (SMS Group)
The SMS Group describes itself as the UK's largest independent ship repairer and a premier provider of marine engineering services, working both ship-side and shore-side. The company unites professionals from Southampton Marine Services, Burgess Marine, Testbank Ship Repair, Small & Co. and Harland & Wolff, and today serves three core markets: commercial marine, cruise and defence. Technical teams are available on a planned or emergency basis 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in the UK, Europe and overseas shipyards.
Services
- Commercial ship repair, refit and fully managed projects, including deck reconfigurations, demobs and remobs
- Welding, fabrication and pipework; coded welding to Lloyd's and DNV standards in mild steel, stainless, aluminium, Cunifer and Duplex/Super Duplex; in-house Welding Quality Assurance Manager
- Bespoke marine grade manufacturing — pipe spools, foundations, frames, seatings, cradles, jigs and towers
- Mechanical engineering including shaftlines, jets, ride control units and high-speed diesels
- Marine electrical engineering: fault finding, installations, thermal imaging surveys, switchboard design and manufacture, hardware supply
- Diving and subsurface engineering: hull inspections, MPI and ultrasonic testing, cathodic protection, underwater welding and cutting, ROV inspection to 300m, CSWIP 3.1/3.2 divers
- Turnkey cruise and ferry interior outfit and refurbishment
- Defence support to the Royal Navy via BAE Systems, KBS Maritime and Babcock International, covering surface ships, submarines and navy base infrastructure
- Estates and infrastructure: caissons, lock gates, penstocks, valves, sluice gates, swing bridges, linkspans, pontoons and cranes
Facilities
- Lowestoft shipyard with 75m dry dock, 100m of quayside, machine shop, workshops and major fabrication hall
- Fleet of vehicles and mobile workshops for national coverage
- Diving hubs with plant and equipment at Lowestoft, Dover, Portsmouth/Plymouth and Bristol
- ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 certified integrated management system; EN1090 (ExC2/3) Factory Production Control
Vessel Types
- Commercial vessels, fast ferries and high-speed craft
- Cruise ships
- Royal Navy surface ships and submarines
- CTVs, WFSVs and OSVs supporting renewables
- Superyachts
Location
Head office at Western Avenue, Western Docks, Southampton, with sites in Glasgow, Lowestoft, Dover, Poole, Avonmouth/Bristol, HMNB Portsmouth, HMNB Devonport, a Southampton interior outfit facility, and a US base in Florida.