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Williams Shipping brings Terra Marique to shore

The challenge

To transport heavy components unsuitable for road haulage from the decommissioned Murco refinery to Pembroke Port for onward delivery abroad.

How did we help?

We provided powerful tugs with shallow draft to manoeuvre specialised cargo barge Terra Marique as close to the beach as possible to facilitate loading direct from the shore.

What equipment was deployed?

We tasked WILANNE, our powerful Damen Stantug 1605 drawing 2.25m, to manoeuvre the Terra Marique with assistance from our Meercat RT15 WILTANGO, able to operate very close to shore with just 0.8m draft.

The whole story

Williams Shipping is delighted to solve marine logistics challenges by working with specialist vessels such as Terra Marique, which combines state-of-the-art technology with traditional marine and heavy transport engineering. Terra Marique has a specially strengthened hull to allow her to beach land with minimal site preparation, facilitating direct delivery and collection from coastal and waterway sites. Her interior hold [K1] [VW2] is capable of transporting trailers of heavy equipment without the need for intermediate transfer.

Since the former Murco oil refinery at Milford Haven was decommissioned in 2014 work has continued to convert the site to a petroleum storage and distribution depot. Much of the dismantled refinery has been transported by road to Pembroke Port for export to Pakistan, where it is to be rebuilt. Williams Shipping was able to provide marine transport for those larger components that could not be delivered to export vessel jetties by road.

The first stage of the job was to tow Terra Marique from Portland to the Pembroke Dock Waterway in South Wales. WILLPOWER, our 2000hp Damen Stantug 2207, was deployed for this trip, a journey of 240 nautical miles.

WILLIAMS SHIPPING BRINGS TERRA MARIQUE TO SHORE

We then switched to our smaller shallow draft tugs to position Terra Marique in Gelliswick Bay, a sheltered sand and shingle bay close to Milford Haven. The heavy loads were then rolled out of the former refinery on self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs), taking a private access road on to the prepared roadway constructed on the beach, and onto the cargo deck of Terra Marique.

Once loaded, our vessels towed Terra Marique to Pembroke Port, where the cargo was discharged onto the quay. Williams Shipping’s vessels made a total of six barge journeys between Gelliswick Bay and Pembroke Port, where the loads were transferred to the SAL Regine heavy lift ship for the export voyage to Pakistan.

Williams Shipping assists the UK’s marine industries with a broad range of services including towage, craneage, stores deliveries, equipment hire and crew transfer. We operate a fleet of 27 workboats, launches and barges, including dedicated wind turbine blade vessels. From our headquarters in Southampton and bases in Milford Haven and Aberdeen we provide specialist services and expertise to the transport, marine, construction, engineering, defence, renewable energy and shipping industries.

For more information please call 023 8052 9555 or email [email protected].

NB: As of October 2022 we no longer own Wilanne.

  • I just wanted to say thank you – it was a very challenging site to work at and make delivery to. Your drivers showed courtesy, patience and professionalism throughout the day

    Philip Kingston,
    Kingston Building Solutions

  • Thank you for your assistance, it was very much appreciated and a special thank you to Bob who did a fantastic job.

    Jenny Wilkinson,
    Interserve Defence Ltd

  • We are very happy with the service provided by your company, especially the driver and we will be using your company for any future work.

    Bob Sarkar,
    National Gritting Service

  • I would like to personally thank you, as a company, and every one of your drivers for their professional approach to the deliveries to our site, all of your drivers have been absolutely fantastic.

    Andy Jenner,
    EP Renewable Energies Limited

  • On Behalf of the Environment Agency and the Residents of Romsey and Winchester, I would like to convey our warmest gratitude for the support you provided during recent flooding. Without you we would not have been able to respond as quickly or effectively as we did.

    James A Humphrys,
    Environment Agency

  • We would like to thank yourself and your team at Williams Shipping for all your help last week, your team were great at getting us around and in position where and when we needed to be in spite of some rotten weather.

    Cliff Stonestreet,
    Fully Fused Fireworks Worldwide Event Management

  • Thank you very much for your assistance and I have to say the two crew members on the vessel could not have been more helpful.

    Steve Beck,
    Burgess Marine

  • May I take this opportunity to thank you for an excellent service, could you also please pass on my thanks to all of your skippers who have helped us over the past few weeks.

    Gwyn Goforth,
    Svitzer UK