Concrete Boats

…. and that is boats made out of concrete rather than boats that carry concrete!!

Using concrete might not seem the best of materials to use to build a boat but has happened for nearly 200 albeit in relatively small numbers as whilst fairly inexpensive to build they are less efficient. More information about the history of these craft can be seen here.

Over the course of the last few months a pair of concrete “buildings” had appeared on Albert Island next to the KGV Dock leading to many different theories about what they were – it turns out that these are actually a pair of barges made out of reinforced concrete being constructed on behalf of the Canary Wharf Group.

Not for the first time that the Royal Docks has been the location for the building oF concrete barges – those were Phoenix breakwaters and were destined to play a pivotal role as part of the D-Day landings – the new ones will play an important role but perhaps less of an historical one – but time will tell!!

In comparison to the blocks created for wartime use the modern ones are of a much smaller scale but still impressive to see.

Interestingly the Royal Docks is home to another concrete boat – the Good Hotel is built on a concrete hull and the use of a concrete hull as a base is the plan of these two new constructions – they will be used as the basis for two inter-connected floating restaurants at Wood Wharf in West India Dock – part of the Canary Wharf development.

Part of the challenge of the current project is that the barges are on the dockside of Albert Island but that isn’t where they will be eventually used – as a result you need a lot of specialist people and equipment which includes a very large barge to be able move the two new hulls and the equipment to get them from the shore to the barge.

The transported barge was provided by Tronds Marine Service AS in the shape of TRONDS BARGE 28 which came from Norway and was brought in to the Royal Docks by Thamescraft Dry Docking Services and then positioned alongside Albert Island.

 

A video of the barge being brought in to the KGV Lock can be seen below and some more pictures of the arrival can be seen here.

The second phase of the operation was to move the concrete hulls, each weighing 1050 tonnes, on to the barge and specialist heavy move company Mammoet were given the task and deployed four Self-Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMT).

 

The whole process took several hours as the move had to be done in stages to make sure the ballast levels of the barge were changed as the weight of the load increased – lots of careful calculations and lots of measurements to make sure the barge stayed the correct way up!!

With so much weight on the barge it is important to make sure the load is in the correct place so losts of measuring

Sometimes the low-tech solution of a water bottle on the end ot the tape just works….. used to measure the water ballast depth to keep the barge level as the weight of the load shifted

A video compilation of photographs can be seen below:

The following time-lapse video shows one of the concrete hulls being moved on to the transporter barge.

Update on 26th May 2020

The floating transporter barge with the two concrete hulls mounted on it was moved back to the KGV Lock and the next stage of the operation was to float off the two hulls – this required the transporter barge to be flooded with water so that the hulls would float and then they were towed back to the King George V Dock for fitting out.

The operation was planned around the time of the low tide so that the transporter barge could be ballasted down to rest on the bed of the lock to provide a stable platform.

Then the water was slowly fed in to the lock to float off the concrete boxes whilst the barge remained on the lock floor.

After some time the water level in the lock was back up to the level of the dock and the two concrete hulls were free floating.

Then it was time for the DALBY VENTURE to come forward and connect to each block in turn to tow them back in to the KGV Dock where they will continue the fitting out process.

The following time-lapse video shows the transporter barge being flooded, the new hulls floating off and then being towed away.

Update 30th May 2020

The transporter barge has now left the Royal Docks following the arrival of EMS TUG to take the barge across the North Sea for it’s next job.

Update Mid August 2020 – steel frames completed and wall and window panels starting to be installed.

Update end September 2020 – work on wall and window panels continues and block being turned in dock to make dock edge access easier.

Update November 2020 – work to fit glazing moving ahead.

Update mid March 2021 – works on the main structure appear to be mostly complete and fitting out taking place.

Update mid April 2021 – the two units are now ready to be moved to Canary Wharf for integration with the Wood Wharf project. Thamescraft tugs DEVOUT and EMILIA D return to the Docks to move the blocks up the Thames to West India Dock.

The following video shows the Tugs moving off along the Thames on their way to Canary Wharf.

Update 14th December 2021

The two units are now in place alongside the Wood Wharf development with one being operational and final fitting out works taking place.

#dlr_blog review of 2019

The year 2019 brought another varied shipping scene to the middle Thames region covered by #dlr_blog whilst in the Royal Docks the continuing London City Airport programme created the majority of vessel activity.

The overall number of visiting vessels did reduce, especially military visitors, with almost half of these visitors being Royal Navy Archer Class patrol vessels again but especially nice to see HMS ENTERPRISE visit the Thames.

There were about the same numbers of Cruise Ship visitors this year with a number making multiple calls and within the group were a couple of new visitors.

The Royal Docks had the biennial Defense & Security show again which brought in a number of larger vessels but not much else of note among the regular visitors across the remainder of the year.

The SHIP OF TOLERANCE art-work did spend over a month in various parts of the Royals.

London did not host a specific Tall Ship event in 2019 but the Thames saw a few interesting sail visitors, notably the Argentinian Navy’s ARA Libertad.

A few vessel statistics for 2019 (some vessels visited more than once):

• Bulk cargo ships visiting Thames Refinery – 25 (24 Import / 1 Export)
• Naval vessels – 31 (of which 8 attended DSEI)
• Cruise ships – 24 (several making multiple visits)
• Sailing ships – 18
• Luxury Yachts – 15 (including two carrying helicopters)
• Visitors to KGV Lock – 250 (many of these were multiple visitors and i might have missed a few!!)

In conclusion 2019 had a number of interesting first time visitors across a number of different classes of vessel. 2020 promises a few new events in the #dlr_blog area and it will be interesting to see what these bring in vessel movement terms.

To see more of my pictures (not just of boats!) click here or follow me on Twitter or Instagram.

#dlr_blog review of 2018

Looking back on 2018 it has been a busy and varied year for vessels visiting the middle Thames region covered by #dlr_blog.

That said the overall number of visiting military vessels did reduce with almost half of these visitors being Royal Navy Archer Class patrol vessels – always nice to see but very regular visitors to the Thames.

Three Royal Navy Archer-class patrol vessels on the Thames

I also was fortunate enough to be invited to take a trip along the Thames on board HMS Example – a report can be seen here.

There were many more Cruise Ship visitors this year with a number making multiple calls and within the group were a couple of new visitors.

Cruise ship LE LAPEROUSE visited London for the first time in 2018

The Royal Docks was quite busy this year with a large proportion of visits being associated with London City Airport expansion works that saw a number of tugs and workboats take up residence in the King George V dock and lots of equipment being brought in by barge and spoil removed.

Tug DEVOUT bringing in floating pontoon blocks for the London City Airport CADP works

The Royal Docks also saw a number of events taking place in the Royal Victoria Dock including the Oceanology International trade show and F1H2O powerboat racing.

F1H2O Powerboats in Royal Victoria Dock

A full report about the F1H2O powerboat racing can be seen here which includes lots of photos and video. Fingers crossed they return to London in 2019!!

Towards the end of the year the three old Woolwich Ferry vessels were retired and their two new replacements arrived.

Sunset for the old Woolwich Ferry boats

Dawn of a new day for the new Woolwich Ferry boat

A few vessel statistics for 2018 (some vessels visited more than once):

• Bulk cargo ships visiting Thames Refinery – 31 (22 Import / 9 Export)
• Naval vessels – 31 (of which 15 were of Royal Navy P2000 patrol boats)
• Cruise ships – 25 (several making multiple visits)
• Sailing ships – 19 (including 8 for SRG2018)
• Luxury Yachts – 13
• Visitors to KGV Lock – 180 (many of these were multiple visitors)

There was also some different “wildlife” spotted in the area during the year included Whales. Dragons and Dinosaurs…….

A “Killer Whale” in Royal Victoria Dock

Dragon Boats in Royal Albert Dock

Dinosaurs in North Woolwich

We also had quite a few robot vessels operate in the docks – including a red submarine!!

In conclusion 2018 will be remembered for quantity but not so much for seeing new or larger ship visitors so hopefully 2019 will bring some interesting and different vessels to the dlr_blog area.

To see more of my pictures (not just of boats!) click here or follow me on Twitter or Instagram.

When Harry met Albert and George

No, not another version of the film but the return of ASV Harry to London’s Royal Docks – specifically the Royal Albert Dock and the King George V Docks.

Back in January 2018 the Eastern end of the docks were the focus of several weeks of dredging works by the vessel Borr to remove the buildup of silt deposits that could impede the passage of vessel through the docks.

As a result of these works a new hydrographic survey was required to update the navigation charts for the docks and the Port of London Authority have that task on behalf of the Royal Docks Management Authority.

Usually the PLA would have deployed their small survey vessel Galloper for the task but on this occasion they commissioned the services of 4D Ocean to use a remotely operated vessel – the use of such “robot” vessels is something that the PLA are researching and this type of technology is likely to become part of their inventory but as yet the exact system has not been determined.

This was not the first time that ASV Harry had operated in the Royal Docks as it had visited in March 2018 to do a survey in KGV Dock and then attended the Oceanology International 2018 event held in Royal Victoria Dock.

The SeaRobotics unmanned vessel carries a sonar system and is operated using a wireless link that provides a video feed from the onboard tv camera as well as the mapping data and receives steering commands in return. The vessel can also be programmed to undertake autonomous taskings.

Whilst it was doing the survey some of the local residents came to have a look but weren’t bothered by the visitor.

The use of such technology brings a number of advantages including being more environmentally friendly in that the battery powered electric motors are very quiet and create no emissions which reduces the impact on neighbouring people and properties.

The vessel also produces very little wash and can operate in confined or restricted areas that might be more difficult for a conventional vessel to navigate to.

A short video of Harry at work can be seen below:
The greater use of such technologies is coming to the waters of the Thames and PLA is working towards this outcome at some future point.

UXB @ LCY

Sunday 11th February had seemingly been a quiet and routine day in North Woolwich but in the murky depths of the King George V Dock trouble was lurking.

The trouble was the discovery of a World War II unexploded bomb (UXB) in the dock just next to the terminal and apron at London City Airport (LCY).

The experts from the Royal Navy Bomb Disposal Unit were called and it then became apparent that this was the real deal and a cordon was imposed covering the airport and parts of the adjacent residential areas of Silvertown in East London.

This led to significant numbers of Police Officers being drafted in from all over London to enforce the safety cordon and to evacuate residents from the danger area.

Meanwhile the Royal Navy team were preparing to send a diver to further examine the device as part of preparations for its eventual removal.

As can be seen from the following picture with the Royal Navy team in the small boat to the bottom left that the bomb is right next to the aircraft parking apron although the planes have been moved away from the closest parking stands.

Still some way to go until the incident is finally concluded as the device has to be made safe, removed from the Dock and taken for disposal.

2017 #dlr_blog year in review

2017 turned out to be a busy and varied year with many more cruise ship visitors and well as a significant number of warships – helped in part by the biennial DSEi defence show in the Royal Docks and a goodwill visit by a Chinese navy flotilla.

There were also a significant number of sailing ships seen during the year, largely thanks to the Rendezvous 2017 event taking place in Greenwich but a number of other first-time visitors also came to London.

The Royal Docks was quite busy this year with a large proportion being associated with Tideway Tunnel enabling works that were based in the KGV Lock.

So, on with the review.

January

Whilst January is typically a quieter month for visitors the river is still busy with various tugs, passenger boats and dredgers but the number of marine engineering projects that are taking place in London along the Thames at the moment means that there has been a steady stream of special equipment including jack-up and crane barges.

One such event saw S. Walsh & Sons Ltd tug SWS Breda along with Palmers Marine Services LTD tug Horton towing Red 7 Marine jack-up platform Haven Seaseven up river.

A more interesting and unusual visitor later in the month was former Gosport Ferry  Gosport Queen which arrived on the Thames for conversion to a party boat to be named MV Pearl of London operated by London Party Boats Ltd.

February

The month started off with another new addition, this time another multi-cat for the CPBS Marine engineering fleet in the shape of Hound Dog – seen arriving on the Thames prior to painting in house colours.

The year’s first bulk carrier cargo ship to visit the Thames Refinery berth at Silvertown was the Oslo Venture I and this picture shows her departing down the Thames after unloading her cargo of raw cane sugar.

The month also saw the first of the year’s naval visitors in the shape of German Navy signals intelligence ship FGS Oker A53 – a photo report can be seen here.

March

The first half of March saw luxury yacht Justa Delia arrive on the Thames and she then spent the rest of the year based in West India Dock at Canary Wharf from where she made numerous trips down river over the following months.

March also saw the first visit of vessels from Thamescraft Drydocking in the Royal Docks this year with Multicat Devour and Workboat Device working with equipment barges in the dock.

The month also saw the extremely rare sight of a working cargo vessel in the Royal Docks – in this case it was the bulk carrier Haringvliet which arrived with a cargo of steel pipes that were then unloaded in the KGV Lock where BAM Nuttall had set-up a base of operations in support of the Thames Tideway tunnel project which would see significant numbers of vessel movements in the Lock over the following months.

April

The main event for April, and one of the key events of the year, was the sight of 26 sailing vessels from 8 countries that came to the Thames as part of the combined Rendez-Vous 2017 Tall Ships Regatta and the Sail Royal Greenwich event. The former was the launch of the trans-Atlantic trip of a number of sailing ships to Canada to help mark the 150th anniversary of the Confederation of Canada – a full report can be seen here and more pictures here.

The same Easter weekend also saw the arrival of 3 ships of the NATO Standing Naval Mine Counter Measures Group 1 (SNMCMG1) that spent the weekend in West India Dock.

May

At the beginning of the month the recently delivered CPBS Marine boat Hound Dog paid its first visit to the Royal Docks and was fully painted in their livery.

The month also saw the Indian Navy send one of their Frigates, the INS Tarkash, to spend a few days in West India Dock as part of a cultural and naval exchange visit to the UK.

Whilst not the first such visit of an Indian vessel to London it was still a rare and interesting event. A full report can be seen here.

Notable among the other visitors was Damen Shipyard’s superyacht support tender ‘Game Changer’ which spent a few days in London on a promotional tour.

June

During June the Royal Docks saw a bit more activity with the Offshore Wind Energy show taking place at ExCel exhibition centre and two Offshore Support Vessels were in attendance. More pictures can be seen here.

The other event in the Docks was a round of the European Jetski Freestyle championships which saw a number of riders competing – sadly there was no local publicity and only a very small crowd of spectators which was a shame and puts the future of the event under threat. More pictures can be seen here.

The month also saw the extremely rare event of two cruise ships from the same company passing each other on the Thames with the Silversea Cruises ships Silver Cloud and Silver Wind passing each other near the O2.

July

July was a month for Warships and Cruise Ships with several of each type of vessel paying a visit to London during the month.

The month started with a nice sunset departure of Viking Sky and her sister ship Viking Sea visited a few days later.

The naval visitors comprised of a mix of Royal Navy Archer Class patrol boats and visitors from NATO countries including BNS Godetia & BNS Bellis.

The other naval visitor came in the shape of Tall Ship BAP Union of the Peruvian Navy with London being the first port of call on its inaugural visit to Europe since entering service. A report from a visit onboard can be seen here.

August

During the month four cargo ships visited the Tate & Lyle Sugars Thames Refinery wharf at Silvertown, three of which were bringing in raw cane sugar and the fourth taking away pallets of refined sugar products.

The first picture shows Bulk Carrier Pacific Basin heading down river after discharging her cargo.

The next pictures show Bulk Carrier Western Miami in the process of being unloaded at Silvertown.

Chilli Dog, the latest addition to the CPBS Marine fleet, made it’s first visit the KGV Lock to collect a container of diving support equipment in support of marine engineering works further up the Thames in London.

The end of the month saw yet another naval tall ship, this time the Nve Cisne Branco from Brazil, a full report can be seen here.

September

The Royal Docks was again busy with various activities this month. It started with a night-time move of Light Ship 93 from it’s normal mooring location in Royal Victoria Dock up to Tower Bridge as part of a PR stunt – seen here in the KGV Lock with two Livett’s Group tugs providing assistance.

The other big event was the biennial Defence exhibition held at ExCel which saw a number of warships and smaller craft moored in Royal Victoria Dock – a full report with more pictures and videos can been seen here.

Also in the Docks during the month was a mass hot air balloon event taking off from London City Airport’s runway as part of their 30th anniversary celebrations in partnership with the Lord Mayor of London’s charity appeal.

October

The month kicked off with an historic visit to London by a flotilla of three Chinese Naval vessels with two Destroyers visiting West India Dock and a Replenishment ship coming to the King George V Dock. A full report with photos and video can be seen here.

Later in the month Toploader, a multi-cat belonging to Topbond PLC, arrived in the KGV Dock to take up residence in support of the first phase of development works at London City Airport.

Towards the end of the month Royal Navy Type 23 Frigate HMS Sutherland came up river to spend a few days in West India Dock to celebrate her birthday.

November

Briggs Marine sent their multi-cat Forth Fighter to spend some time on the Thames undertaking diving operation around the two Woolwich Ferry pier in preparation for the enabling works in 2018 for the arrival of the two replacement ferries.

Two NATO Frigates also visited during the month although the replenishment ship that was due to join them had to stay in Bruges for some repairs but still nice to see the Portuguese and Norwegian ships.

The end of the month saw floating sheerleg crane Cormorant arrive on the Thames to undertake recovery of a sunken barge from the river at Gallions Reach.

December

Whilst the year had seen fewer visits by Luxury Yachts it was nice to see Sea Falcon II arrive on the river to spend the festive period moored in West India Dock.

Multraship sent their tug Multratug 17 to the Thames to help take Cormorant back to the Netherlands after the salvage operation.

The year once again came to a close with a number of luxury motor cruisers arriving in the Royal Docks on their way to the 2018 London Boat Show.

So that concludes a look back at some of the highlights from the year, lots more pictures from these events and others can be seen here.

It will be interesting to see what 2018 will bring in terms of new visitors and familiar vessels making a visit to London. The #dlr_blog “Lookout” page will attempt to provide notice of expected arrivals and watch out for blog reports about key events and visitors so stay tuned……

A few vessel statistics for 2017 (some vessels visited more than once):

Bulk cargo ships visiting Thames Refinery – 31 (21 Import / 10 Export)

Naval vessels – 45 (includes 8 to the Royal Docks)

Cruise ships – 16

Sailing ships – 35 (including 26 for RV2017)

Flying machines in KGV Dock

The waters of the King George V Dock in North Woolwich are usually pretty quiet with only the occasional tug or boat passing through but for one afternoon a year they become an international sporting arena.

This is when the European Freestyle Jet Ski Championship arrives in Newham to host a round of the competition in the UK by setting up camp at the Tereza Joanne boat floating venue in London’s Docklands.

Over the course of the 5 hour event there were qualifying and finals for each of 4 experience or power categories and a best trick category with men and women, young and not so young, competitors from across the world taking part.

The event generated a range of freestyle moves and some trills and spills as looping or barrel rolling a jet ski doesn’t always quite work as planned!!

Overall an entertaining afternoon in the sun watching the competitors going through their paces.

Unfortunately the event wasn’t that well promoted and most of the spectators appeared to be family and friends of the competitors  – a real shame that RoDMA, Newham Council nor the local press appeared to promote the event and this has to raise doubts about the event returning in future years.

#dlr_blog review of 2016

2016 was another varied and interesting year in the #dlr_blog area of coverage with lots of vessels coming up the Thames of all shapes and sizes and quite a few first time visitors although there was a marked reduction in the number of bulk cargo carriers visiting Silvertown.

The Royal Docks were busy although most of this was traffic generated by  building works or events taking place at the Excel exhibition centre rather than activities specifically utilising the water.

So, on with the review.

January

Most of the movements at the beginning of the month were connected with the annual London Boat show that takes place at the Excel exhibition centre and one of the features was the debut of the Sunseeker 131 in the shape of Zozo.

Towards the end of the month three ships of the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) spent the weekend in the Royal Docks, a rare but welcome visit. A full report can be seen here.

February

This was a quieter month but did see the year’s first visit of a Royal Navy Archer Class patrol boat in the form of HMS Trumpeter – she and her sister vessels were to make several more visits during the year.

The month also saw the year’s first cargo ship to use Murphy’s wharf in Charlton on one of the occasional export runs from the middle Thames. For this trip the Celtic Mariner was in use.

March

The biennial Oceanology International event took place at Excel and attracted a number of visiting vessels of various shapes and sizes including the RV Mintis that is owned and operated by the Klaipeda University in Lithuania. A full report on the vessels attending the event can be seen here.

The KGV Dock and Lock continued to be used for a variety of things from the long-term storage of unoccupied Houseboats through to the loading of marine engineering equipment onto barges, one such visit saw Thamescraft Drydocking’s multicat Devour bring in a pontoon to load up some dredging equipment.

April

The middle of the month saw three ships from the German Navy’s 3rd German Minesweeping Squadron arrive on the Thames to spend a few days in West India Dock where they were open to the public – a report of a visit on-board the ships can be seen here.

The end of the month also saw the first cruise ship of the season arrive on the Thames for a stay alongside HMS Belfast in the shape of L’Austral.

May

May was a very busy and varied month that included visiting warships, cargo ships, tugs, luxury yachts, tall ships and cruise liners.

Viking Cruises brought their 2nd new ship to Greenwich for her christening making her the largest vessel to be named on the Thames, a full report can be seen here.

A slightly more unusual vessel seen on the Thames and in the Royal Docks during the month was an amphibious vehicle called the Humdinga, it was in London for some demonstration runs and promotional work and is one of a range of vehicles produced by Gibbs, the manufacturer. See here for a full report.

June

Two sail training ships paid a visit to West India Dock during the month with the USCG’s Eagle and the Mexican Navy’s Cuauhtemoc spending a few days in West India Dock. See here for a full report.

There is a huge amount of engineering and development work taking place on and around the Thames in London and this is bringing in a number of visiting tugs, pontoons and workboats but is also encouraging local firms to add new vessels to their fleets.

As part of the Thames Tideway tunnel project the month saw a visit by the tug Forth Trojan with crane barge Forth Olympian and this was assisted by S Walsh’s new pusher tug SWS Suffolk. A full report can be seen here.

July

This month saw the arrival of two new tugs for the Livett’s Group fleet in the shape of Christian and Felix joining a growing number of vessels operating on the Thames that feature a hydraulic lifting wheelhouse that allows them to pass under low bridges but also to see over loaded barges.

The first outing for the new tugs was to assist with Virgin Media’s #Bethefastest promotion – details can be seen here.

The month also saw the very rare visit of a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force training ship, the JS Kashima, which was one of three Japanese ships undertaking a round-the-world training cruise.

August

The Royal Docks was quite busy during the month with two large pontoons and huge amounts of wood being used for the 350th anniversary commemorations of the Fire of London with all the setup work taking place in the docks, a full report can be seen here.

The new Blackfriars Pier also spent a few weeks being fitted out in the Docks and the Totally Thames festival’s ‘Floating Dreams’ installation was also constructed here.

Meanwhile, out on the Thames the everyday working vessels continued to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week carrying building materials and waste to and from London.

September

London was visited by the sinister looking, and expensive, superyacht A at the start of the month. An example of the more modern type of ships that visit the Thames.

The more traditional tall ships visited Greenwich again operating pleasure trips and holding fireworks displays each of the three evenings they were in town.

A community art project also took place in the area with an artist building a ship out of recycled wood on the site of the former Harland & Woolf shipyard, a report of the build process can be seen here and the launch can be seen here.

October

This month saw lots of activity in the Royal Docks as the new floating hotel was delivered on the back of a semi-submersible transport barge that was almost as wide as the KGV Lock. Blog reports of the arrival of the hotel can be seen here and the departure of the empty transporter barge can be seen here.

The following video shows the barge leaving the Royal Docks.

The month also saw visits by two warships and two luxury yachts including a visit from Lady S.

November

November began with a number of military vessels paying a visit to London which included two University Royal Naval Unit (URNU) Archer Class patrol vessels that took part in the Lord Mayor’s show.

A French Navy Offshore Patrol vessel also paid a visit during the early part of the month.

Later in the month the SS Robin pontoon was temporarily moved from it’s normal berth in the Royal Docks due to filming taking place and it was returned a week later – a report can be seen here.

December

Arriving at the beginning of the month was the Belgian Navy’s sail training vessel Zenobe Gramme, quite a rare visitor to the Thames.

The year ends as it started with boats taking part in the London Boat Show which is held at the Excel exhibition centre in early January.

Here is a video of some of the yachts arriving in the Royal Docks.

That concludes the review of 2016, some big events to look forward to in the coming year including a large number of tall ships for the Tall Ship race in April and naval vessels for the defence exhibition in September – follow #dlr_blog for updates.

A few vessel statistics for 2016 (some vessels visited more than once):

Bulk cargo ships     22
Naval vessels           25
Cruise ships             10
Sailing ships            22

Treble tug tow through KGV Lock

After all the excitement surrounding the arrival of the floating hotel it was time for the more mundane but no less interesting task of putting the toys back in their box and when this involves moving a barge that is  91.4m long and 27.4m wide through a lock that is only 30.5m wide there is not a lot of margin for error!

The first attempt at the move saw Rederij Groen’s tug Dutch Blue (that had brought the barge over with the hotel on it) and Kotug Smit’s ZP Bear transit through the Lock and out to the barge which was moored in the KGV Dock alongside North Woolwich.

The following video shows the tugs leaving the lock.

However, the circumstances were not quite right for the operation to go ahead and so a 24 hour delay was put in place.

The next day ZP Bear returned and was accompanied by MST’s tug Protector.

After turning the barge around in the dock the tugs were then ready to head in to the lock.

The following video shows the various stages of the move from the entry in to the lock through to the departure in to the river Thames.

Then they were safely out in to the river where, after a pause to ensure that everything was ready for a North Sea tow, the convoy headed off down the Thames at the end of a busy few days on a project that had involved 8 tugs from 5 different companies as well as PLA pilots and the RoDMA Marine Operations Team among others.

#BeTheFastest

It has been a while since the last PR promo event set-up job took place in the Royal Docks but the latest one has been something really big.

As part of the promotion of their #BeTheFastest campaign Virgin Media decided that they wanted to do a video presentation on the river Thames and so asked Livett’s Group to help make it happen.

They wanted a really big screen and so a 100m long pontoon was constructed in the KGV Lock and then a LCD display screen was built on top of that along with generators and supporting equipment.

The build took 3 days and involved tonnes of equipment and large teams of people from a number of event management companies – the KGV lock providing an ideal place for such activity.

Livett’s provided both of their new pusher-tugs, Felix and Christian, to tow the display and workboat Alfie as safety boat.

With any such activity it is always a good idea to test that everything works and so on evening before the big reveal the tugs took the display to the KGV Dock and ran a test – this involved lots of light and a low flying helicopter and so attracted quite a bit of attention!

A short clip of part of the test can be seen by clicking here.

Once the test was completed the screen was moved back to the lock ready for its trip up river.

Due to the nature of the placement of the screen the message can only really be seen from above – presumably the reason why the event is taking place on the Thames near the London Eye.

Update: The two tugs and the pontoon have now headed off down the Thames.

This video shows them leaving the KGV lock.