Cargo at KGV

The last few days have seen another Cargo Ship moored in the KGV Lock discharging cargo – the third in 3 months after a gap of nearly 5 years without any such visitors. The previous two visits had been in connection with the Silvertown Tunnel project but this was a delivery of bulk raw materials for a local company.

The CELTIC ENDEAVOUR is a general cargo ship with a carrying capacity of 3702 t DWT and is owned and operated by Cardiff based Charles M. Willie & Co. Shipping Ltd who’s vessels are a regular sight on the Thames.

• 

• 

• 

• 

The ship arrived in stormy conditions on Sunday, 20th February 2022, coming in from Aveiro in Portugal with a load of bagged cement powder produced by CIMPOR.

Due to the high winds the unloading operation was delayed by a day but a pair of mobile cranes were deployed dockside to unload the bags from the ship and to transfer them to a fleet of waiting lorries owned by MIXIT (believed to be the end customer for the load) who have a concrete production facility in Barking Riverside.

Chamberlain Crane Hire deployed their Liebherr LTM1090-4.2 crane and Bronzeshield Lifting used a Tadano-Faun crane.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The water-space of the Royal Group of Docks in London is significantly under untilised, especially in relation to commercial operations, but despite a growing demand for inland waterway freight there appears to be no plans for the Royals to exploit this trend – in fact the redevelopment of Albert Island males no provision to exploit it’s riverside or dockside areas and will lead to a net loss in quayside access.

Hopefully the situation will change but until then the sight of KGV Lock being used for their intended purpose some 100 years after it was officially opened is still great to see,

A few more pictures can be seen below:

KGV Lock – 100 not out

The year 2021 saw the 100th anniversary of the official opening of the KGV Lock and Dock complex as the final addition to the Royal Group of Docks in London.

Whilst the Royal Docks closed for commercial shipping in the early 1980’s the docks have continued to see a variety of uses but very little in the way of cargo operations (projects like the London City Airport development were not really cargo activities).

Over the last decade there have only been two previous cargo operations (the last being in March 2017) and so it was great to see a cargo ship arriving in the KGV Lock on 5th December 2021.

These days most of the activity is centered on the KGV Lock, mainly due to the fact that most of the former dockside areas have either been redeveloped for other uses or have limited accessibility – in it’s heyday the lock would have been too busy with vessels entering and leaving to support such use.

The reason for this particular visit was in support of the Silvertown Tunnel project (this article is not for debating the merits of that project!) with sections of the outer-casing for the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) that will excavate the two tunnels for the project.

This TBM will be the largest diameter TBM used on a UK tunneling project and it measures in with a diameter of 11.9m and a weight of 1800 tonnes.

The cargo vessel used for the task was the MV RUNNER and it arrived after crossing the North Sea having loaded the cargo in the Netherlands after being contrasted by Herrenknecht at their factory in Germany.

A heavy lift crane and transporter vehicles from Mammoet UK, a specialist heavy lift and transportation company, arrived at the KGV Lock and were set up for operations.

Due to the size of the casings they were defined as abnormal loads which meant that escort vehicles were needed and the moves were planned for the evening when the roads are quieter.

TBM Casing

Escort Vehicle

Wide Load

Heavy Lift

Whilst it is good to see the Docks working again I fear it will be a short-lived revival as the current plans for the redevelopment of Albert Island would mean that there is no access to the lock side for lorries or cranes and limited space to conduct complex lifting operations – enjoy the spectacle whilst it lasts!!

Some more pictures can be seen here.