London Gateway welcomed its giant cranes to its £350m fourth berth, set to open this summer. The cranes are expected to operate for a minimum of 25 years, making the arrival a rare event in the UK, and are sized to service the largest vessels currently in operation around the world – including 24,000 TEU containerships and even bigger vessels in the future.
PLA Chief Executive, Robin Mortimer, said: "The arrival of these cranes – the largest quay cranes in Europe – is a big day for the Port of London. And being fully electric, these cranes also represent a significant step towards decarbonising the port and achieving our goal of Net Zero by 2040.
“The safe arrival of these cranes also reflects some great team-working across the PLA – from planning, business development, hydrography, pilotage and VTS to our harbour masters and harbour service launch team – so many people have played a part in making this happen.”
Another two quay cranes are expected to dock at London Gateway in early summer. The cranes are not only the largest in Europe but also the most advanced, having been fitted with the latest automation technology and can complete ‘tandem’ lifts, which involves the loading or unloading of two 40ft boxes or four 20ft boxes in a single move.
New RoRo service
CLdN’s Seraphine Ro-Ro vessel in the River Thames
European shipping line, CLdN, which boasts it operates ‘the most CO2 efficient RoRo fleet in Europe’, announced that it will expand its Purfleet service with an additional three round trip sailings per week from Zeebrugge. This will provide 30% more capacity and increase the frequency to three departures in both directions on peak days.
In 2022, CLdN added 5.000 lane metre LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) vessels, Faustine and Seraphine. A further two new super-efficient 8.000 lane metre vessels (with a technologically advanced propulsion train) will join its fleet in 2025.
Dolphins spotted
A pod of dolphins has been seen swimming in the Thames in the last couple of weeks. Sightings of seals are quite common on the tidal Thames, which is also home to internationally significant numbers of migratory and overwintering birds, 125 species of fish and marine and terrestrial mammals, and a wide variety of plant species.
At first, people thought they might be porpoises, the Cetacean cousin that is deceptively similar to dolphins.
However, after studying the photos and films of the pod, our Ecology specialist, Kelda Hudson, says they are more likely to be dolphins. She adds: “The Thames Estuary is important for cetaceans, particularly harbour porpoise. Sightings of common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) are much rarer than harbour porpoise, and they are more commonly spotted in the outer estuary, so seeing them this far inshore is a rare treat. The species can be identified by its tall and triangular dorsal fins which curve slightly backwards.”
As a protected species, it is important that the dolphins are not disturbed, and so vessels should maintain distance and not approach from either the front or back. As the Thames becomes cleaner, and richer in biodiversity, we hope to see more of these beautiful creatures enjoy the river in the future.
Kristina Kapciukaite, Thames Lens and Totally Thames: overall winner, with her stunning landscape shot called One Foggy Morning.
Winners of Thames Lens, joined representatives from Port of London Authority and Thames Festival Trust, at the stunning riverside location of Woods Quay to celebrate another remarkable year of this competition (27 February). The winning artwork was displayed, and guests enjoyed the exhibition, alongside canapes and speeches from the sponsors.
Adrian Evans CVO, Thames Festival Trust, Director, said: “Judging the Thames Lens competition is an annual highlight. Congratulations to all the winners because this year the quality of submissions was excellent. Perhaps this is down to the Thames’ power to inspire, something it has been doing for thousands of years. What an amazing river!”
Thames Lens & Port of London Authority: Overall Winner - Ingrid Demaerschalk - La vie en Rose in Richmond - Landscape
Global beauty brand, The Ordinary, floated a giant bottle down the Thames (19 February) as a PR stunt. As Charley Jamieson, PLA’s Filming and Events Officer said, “Floating giant-sized objects as marketing activations seems to be a revived trend at the moment. Working alongside our Harbour Master team, we always put safety first.”
Tom Ochman, Thomas Ford, Jim Powell and John Dillon-Leetch in Dublin.
Our Hydrography department represented the Port of London Authority at the Hydrographic Society UK & Ireland Remote Hydrography Conference this week (27-28 February).
Port Hydrographer John Dillon-Leetch wrote on LinkedIn: "Very proud of the work we do and especially the people on the team at Port of London Authority - Tom Ochman and Tom Ford’s presentation at The Hydrographic Society UK & Ireland Remote Hydrography Conference on the surveyors' perspective on use of remote technologies was a super representation of the important work we do to support the wide range of survey and data delivery work we undertake on and underwater and in the air!"
We host public meetings to discuss developments on the three different districts of the tidal Thames.
Our next public meeting to discuss current and future matters related to the Upper District of the river (Putney to Teddington) will be held at London Rowing Club, Putney on Monday 4 March 2024.
Date: Monday 4 March 2024
Venue: London Rowing Club, Embankment, Putney, London, SW15 1LB
Timings: 6.30 pm – 8.00 pm; registration and refreshments will be available from 6.00 pm
Nearest public transport: Putney Bridge tube station, Putney mainline railway station and Thames Clipper service calling at Putney Pier
After almost 10 years with the Port of London Authority, at the end of March we say goodbye to our Head of Stakeholder Engagement, Raj Kehal-Livi, who has decided to leave the organisation to pursue a fresh challenge. Raj leaves the organisation with our very best wishes and sincere thanks.
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