________________________________________________________________________________ UK Docks Marine Services
“ My dad, Harry, established the business in 1992, and with a lifetime of experience in ship repair, he acquired a small slipway facility on the River Tyne and started a boat repair and maintenance company,” opens Jonathan Wilson, Managing Director.“ At that time, we had a small workshop that served primarily small fishing boats and river craft. I’ m the youngest of three brothers and all of us are involved in the business today, but my eldest brother, Chris, was first to join the business, followed by the middle brother, Gary.
“ Together, Harry, Chris, Gary, and Jonathan have grown the business by leveraging opportunities to take on additional facilities. They acquired a covered slipway, for instance, which not only doubled the size of the boats we could repair but also enabled us to tender for Ministry of Defence( MoD) work as we then had a secure, undercover site. Then, in 2002, an opportunity emerged to lease a ship repair and dry dock facility located in Sunderland, which saw us go from working on boats to small ships. This brought new opportunities for ship repair projects and servicing the MoD, and as we continued to tender for more MoD contracts, we needed a location on the South coast. We opened a facility in Gosport and subsequently won a contract with the MoD to repair approximately 120 small training vessels.
“ We continued to expand our footprint to coasts in the East, West, and South, to ensure we could service vessels around the UK, and amid our maintenance division taking off, the ship repair side of the business was also developing. In around 1995, we were awarded a contract with Brunvoll AS, a high-tech Norwegian provider of sustainable propulsion and maneuvering systems for the maritime industry, and we still maintain that contract today.” tlimagazine. com 73