By
Alex Smith |
The SMS Group has continued to service cruise ships at the Port of Southampton, UK, throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Cruise is so important to our business,” said Nicholas Warren, commercial director of SMS Group. "The provision of ‘Ride On Squads’ across both our engineering business and outfit business has enabled us to capitalise on our position in Southampton. Short, sharp port calls have allowed us to demobilise and remobilise quickly and efficiently, to the benefit of all our cruise customers. Our focus on longer-term relationships and the lifetime value of customers ensures that we price correctly and deliver the very best service. This month alone we’ve attended over a dozen ships within the port.”
The company recently moved to Western Avenue, adjacent to the port’s King George V dry dock. It is now planning to invest in both its fabrication workshop and new mechanical workshop, along with improvements to its offices. The fit-out and marine refurbishment team will also be expanded.
“Our pipeline is very strong, our network growing daily, and perhaps more importantly our forward order book looks genuinely healthy," said Dan Lockyer, head of interiors at SMS. "Our short-term future is focused on smaller packages of work, but very soon we hope to see a meaningful recovery; both universal testing and vaccines will ensure the industry recovers quickly.”