The facility mirrors almost exactly the successful Williams Marine Base in Southampton and includes deep water berths, access to 100m of quay with craneage facilities and storage.

A two story complex provides office, storage and messing accommodation.

In the very early stages key items of floating plant were selected from the resources of Williams and the Milford Docks Company to provide the nucleus of a new fleet. Among the craft selected from the original local fleet was the pontoon style work vessel WMPS Seahorse , the workboat Lisa and a number of barges and other small craft.

WMPS Seahorse is a useful 18.7m twin-screw vessel. Built locally in 1997, it has been completely refitted and now has a pair of new Daewoo V158TI engines which give the vessel a total of 960 bhp, producing a bollard pull of 10 tons and a maximum free running speed of 10 knots.

A large work deck and the means to transfer fuel and fresh water make this a versatile vessel for transportation and supporting marine civil engineering projects.

Williams initially provided the 883bhp, 18m twin screw tug Wilfreedom , barges, a bunkering vessel and other small craft and floating plant.

That original fleet has grown considerably and now numbers almost twenty vessels and small craft of various types. Within months of the formation of the joint venture company the new 960 bhp StanTug 1605 Willanne was transferred from Southampton to support the wide variety of services now supplied by the fleet. The new organisation has the added major advantage of the availability of massive additional support in terms of plant, resources and expertise available through the Williams Shipping Group.

WMPS are currently responsible for all line handling and mooring duties at the Milford Haven oil terminals. Towage assistance is also given to the smaller tankers using berths on the inside of the jetties and other towing operations are undertaken around the Milford Docks area. This work is mainly in support of ships of 4,000 to 5,000 tons and occasionally as large as 10,000 tons. The transportation of stores and personnel is a vital service carried out throughout the Milford Haven area and under the joint venture agreement considerable opportunities continue to present themselves for the development of new business. Milford Haven is Wales' largest port and provides a base for expansion throughout South Wales. The demand for marine services is increasing rapidly with the growth of shipping in the port, and will increase further with two LNG terminal developments currently underway. Exploratory offshore drilling for gas in nearby coastal waters may also present new opportunities in the long term.

The versatility and ingenuity of WPMS is being amply demonstrated by an ongoing project to supply building materials to the Isle of Skomer where a new visitor centre is being constructed at the well known Bird Sanctuary. A major difficulty experienced in the early stages of the project was the lack of adequate berthing facilities on the island to allow building materials to be landed.

This has now been solved by using a large flat-top pontoon barge, equipped with a large crane and two anchoring spuds.

At high water the barge is gradually pushed into a carefully selected location on the shoreline by the tug Wilfreedom and held in position by the spuds. Once in a position where it can safely 'take the ground' the cargo is lifted ashore using the crane with a long jib. In this manner, some 200 tons of cargo are delivered each trip.