A large percentage of Frank Armitt's stevedoring business is handled by the company's wholly owned subsidiary, North West Stevedores Ltd. This was founded at the end of the NDLB Scheme in 1989 to take over the stevedoring operations previously carried out by Associated British Ports at the Port of Garston.

Garston Docks is capable of handling vessels up to approximately 10,000 tonnes with larger vessels needing to arrive on the spring tides; vessels up to approximately 4000 to 5000 tonnes can safely dock on most tides in this port. The port has a long history in handling steel, timber and bulk materials. The company operates with a nucleus of their own skilled and well trained labour force and sets a high standard of quality handling and ship turn round within the port industry.

There are a wide range of stores at Garston totalling 263,000 square feet with a number of stores having 25 tonne overhead gantry cranes. 90,000 square feet of the storage is modern, specialised multi purpose stores which are split into 5000, 7500 and 12,500 square feet units. These bulk stores are all internally clad and separated with minimum 3 metre high reinforced concrete bunker walls. This includes a specialised dedicated bulk soda ash export facility at Garston, handling up to 150,000 tonnes per annum.