Home | Williams Shipping’s 129th anniversary

29th June 2023

Williams Shipping’s 129th anniversary

Posted by: Kristiyana Urumova / under:

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Fitting that Williams Shipping’s 129th anniversary falls on the 29th day of the month!

29th June 2023, 129 years after George Williams first acquired a vessel named “Spec” in 1894 and started his own business. To this day, we are still looked after by the Williams family, and we have no intention to stop now. As we celebrate another year of providing incredible marine, logistics and shipping container solutions to a variety of industries, we can look back and see just how the business has grown over the years.

Here are some facts we have uncovered to showcase our time across the last two centuries:

  • Vessels owned: over 100
  • Trucks owned: over 2, 000
  • Shipping containers sold: over 10, 000
  • Staff hired: 750
  • Williams family members worked at Williams Shipping: 14
  • Office locations across the UK: 7
  • Happy customers: 10,000

Director Colin Williams has said: “Our versatile and unique business has survived two world wars, recessions, the great depression of 1929, and global pandemics because of our ability to continuously adapt to the ever-changing world around us. I have no doubt that Williams Shipping will continue to provide a first-class service to our customer for many, many years to come.”

We have also supported hundreds of charities over the years. Some of them include “Children with Cancer”, “RNIL”, “Macmillan” and many local charities. Also, we have been supporting “Round Table” with their fireworks for over 30 years and supported many running events, such as the Romsey Relay Marathon, many carnivals, and football teams.

Our History

In 1894 George Williams set up his own business and acquired a small pinnace which was being sold by the Royal Navy.

From there, the Williams family name grew a reputation for reliability and developed the business in the early part of the 20th century.

During World War 2, Williams Shipping provided an important range of services, on behalf of the government, as part of the war effort. 

Post war, the business grew again and expanded into several different industries. To this day, we continue to strive forward with the original ethos that George Williams started the company with.

For more information on our journey through time, visit our history page.

  • 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