OCEANDIVA (London) – a long time coming….. stayed a while and left again……
The prospect of a “luxury yacht” floating events venue on the River Thames in London has been around for some time.
It was first proposed that a vessel known as OCEANDIVA would ply it’s trade on the Thames as far back as 2016 and this was going to be an UK offshoot of an established Dutch company that operated entertainment vessels in the Amsterdam area.
The original proposal was to bring an existing vessel from the Netherlands to the UK to operate on the Thames but different shipping regulations meant that a vessel certified for European waterways use was not suited to the fast-flowing tidal Thames.
As a result of this it seems a decision was taken to build a new vessel that would comply with the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency rules whilst also being powered by battery packs to become a carbon-neutral floating events venue – a first for the River Thames.
This new vessel was constructed in the Netherlands by the VEKA Group at their shipyard in Lemmer before coming to London where it will be operated as part of the Smart Group as Oceandiva London. The team have set up a consultation hub with details of how they intend to test the vessel in preparation for it’s full operations on the Thames – details can be found here.
The Company had high hopes of an early beginning for the project – a press release in September 2019 stated “Las Vegas, September 11, 2019 – From Imex America in Las Vegas, Edwin Petersen, CEO of OCEANDIVA, presents the plans for the company’s latest event ship. The OCEANDIVA London will be the first carbon neutral event ship in the world and is expected to arrive in London at the end of 2020.”
It is undoubtedly the case that the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted plans but it is only in April 2023 that the vessel seems to have hit the water and completed initial running trials – deploying innovative technology is challenging but it appear that there have been other technical or construction issues that have delayed the project too.
There have been challenges in London too when it comes to preparations for operating the vessel. An initial planning application for an operating base at Swan Lane in the City of London was rejected by the Planning Authority and many riverside residents have voiced concerns about the scale of events the new vessel could support.
Whilst many concerns have been raised about this new “party boat” it is highly unlikely that this vessel will operate in the football fan booze cruise / river based disco venue category – a more viable concern is the disembarkation of large numbers of guests at the end of events, some of which are planned to end after midnight.
Initially the capacity was thought to be up to 1500 but this was revised in June 2023 to 800 guests for normal operations with up to 1000 guests for 12 events per annum.
An all too common occurrence is that the prime operator and associated 3rd parties are all happy to make money but don’t give local residents the respect of engagement – a good example was the first application for a premises license which when originally posted contained only 2 documents with the bare minimum of information – it was only many months after the closing date for public responses that a full set of over 30 documents were released that included the full extent of proposed operating locations and did nothing to reduce the impression of avoiding engagement.
Since the vessel has arrived in London a more active engagement process has commenced which will hopefully lead to a greater partnership approach with local residents.
In a similar vein you might expect the operator of the host mooring location in King George V Dock to engage with local residents about the plans just out of courtesy and good community engagement but sadly no attempt was made to do so although for the local residents around the Royal Docks in Newham this is sadly the norm – no meaningful engagement occurs on any matter.
Some work was undertaken to Dolphin 1 located at the eastern end of the KGV Dock to make it ready for OCEANDIVA which included adding a new bridge, some power and water cabling, new mooring points and a new surface.
The use of alternative, non-carbon, forms of propulsion for all types of vehicle are welcomed but there needs to be a programme of education and awareness that runs in parallel to the delivery of such solutions – the London Fire Brigade are flagging real concerns about fires relating to the charging and operation of battery powered bikes and scooters – it is not hard to see why residents would have concerns about a vessel with a significantly larger battery pack being charged near their homes.
The vessel finally arrived in North Woolwich on 20th May 2023 and entered the lock running on it’s own battery power (having been towed across the North Sea and up the River Thames) and after the removal of some protective covers it then moved to it’s assigned berth in the main dock.
The following video shows the arrival of OCEANDIVA at the Royal Docks.
Upon arrival the vessel remained in the Lock for a while whilst some of the covers that had protected the windows were removed and a welcoming party went on board.
Due to the size of the vessel numerous CCTV cameras are installed to provide situational awareness to the crew and in addition there are two wing bridge locations on the roof from where the vessel can be controlled during docking operations.
The OCEANDIVA is a newly built vessel and there are quite a few “loose ends” to be tidied up before it goes in to service for fee-paying clients but there are quite a few rough edges that are a bit of a surprise!
Then it moved through in to the KGV Dock with the London skyline as a backdrop before maneuvering on to the mooring at Dolphin 1.
A few days later it was moved back in to the lock to enable works to be undertaken.
Life-raft system test
On the 26th May 2023 as part of the activities to prepare the vessel for service a system trial of the life-raft launching process was undertaken in the KGV Dock. This was just a test of one of the life-raft pods rather than a passenger evacuation test.
The vessel is equipped with 12 SurvitecZodiac podded life-rafts located in 4 groups around the vessel and each has a rated capacity for 151 persons. In addition the vessel carries at least a dozen float-rafts as well as lifejackets.
The vessel adopted a static position in the dock and one of the pods was then ejected from it’s storage rack in to the water before the guide ropes pulled it towards one of the doorways. A separate inflatable slide then deployed to allow the crew to enter the raft.
At the same time the vessel deployed a small inflatable safety boat that is believed to be stored in an aft hanger space and is transferred to and from the water using one of the two lifting arms mounted at the stern of OceanDiva.
Once the deployment test had been completed the local workboat towed the raft back in to the KGV Lock for recovery and also provided the opportunity to see the scale of these large rafts – they are open rafts as OceanDiva will only operate on inland waterways.
A video of the system test can be seen below – note, this is an edited video and does not show elapsed time for any of the events depicted.
The idea is for the vessel to recharge it’s batteries from a shore-based power supply with the primary site in the KGV Dock being supplemented by other charging stations along the river, including one at West India Pier, but as of June 2023 none of the river based charging stations have been deployed.
In a change of plans it seems less likely that OCEANDIVA will use the West India Pier charging point although this one and one at Lambeth are to be available for charging of other vessels and equipment.
Another hurdle the operators need to overcome is the securing of a premises license for the sale of alcohol and to run events on the vessel which needs to be obtained from London Borough of Newham Council which covers the site of the vessels main mooring location. The application submitted in 2022 was later withdrawn, in part due to the delay to the delivery of the vessel.
Update: 15th June 2023
I was fortunate enough to be invited on board the OceanDiva along with a few other local residents to have a look at the vessel to see the internal arrangement of space and to see some of the new technologies employed on the vessel.
On the day of our visit the vessel was moored alongside Dolphin 1 and taking power from the shore power point. Various fitting out works were being undertaken but we were able to visit a number of public and crew areas as well as speaking to both management and technical staff.
We started off on the middle deck which has various service areas as well as a mezzanine view down to the main lower deck with it’s main display screen.
At the stern of the middle deck is a small open deck area which also houses some of the operational equipment such as lifejacket storage and access to the machinery spaces.
The lower deck is the main multi-function events space – this will be configured to meet client needs for their event – from gala dinner to product launches – there are fully accessible lifts too but we didn’t look at them.
The rear internal area on the upper deck has a bar area which, like the rest of the vessel, can be configured to meet client needs.
The outer deck space includes the cargo hatch which allows over-sized items to be lowered in to the vessel using external cranage. The structure of the upper deck will allow for the placement of props or products (such as vehicles etc.) but is not designed to be a helideck.
The Wheelhouse level also has a stock of float life-rafts and there are wing-bridge stations for close maneuvering alongside piers. The bridge also has a hydraulic lift mechanism to provide an elevated view for the helm.
The main command position is very much “star-ship” in nature with multi-function displays, thrusters and system controls.
One option that had been proposed was to use the roof space to hold solar panels for supplementary charging of the batteries but this option has not been taken forward.
Lower deck engineering space which hold the grey water processing pant and two battery rooms which each have fire suppression and fume venting systems. The battery compartments have space to accommodate a future doubling of capacity.
Starboard stern thruster assembly
On departure had a quick look at Dolphin 1.
Update 8th July 2023 – as part of the certification process for enabling the Oceandiva to carry passengers on the Thames a series of tests and checks need to be undertaken in order for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to grant a license.
During the first of these test sessions on the 22nd June 2023 whilst operating near Erith the Oceandiva suffered damage as a result of an incident – until the formal investigation has been completed I will not speculate further nor publish any of my images.
Following the incident the Oceandiva returned to the Royal Docks under it’s own power and with no outside assistance and the vessel remained there until 8th July 2023 when it was towed to Chatham for further repair works to be undertaken.
Update 14th August 2023
Following works in Chatham the Oceandiva returned to the Royal Docks under it’s own power on 14th August ahead of another planned certification voyage booked for 16th August.
Update 9th November 2023
The OCEANDIVA undertook a short test voyage and another life-raft test on 30th August out on the River Thames, with the support of tug DEVOUT, before returning to it’s mooring in the Royal Docks.
An interesting feature of the vessel that I hadn’t spotted previously is the inclusion of a cargo host above the forward port entry door (presumably one on the starboard side too) to make the loading of stores and equipment easier and independent of shore facilities. [Note: there are also two, longer reach, cranes mounted at the stern of the vessel.]
On 6th November OCEANDIVA made a transit through the Royal Docks to spend a couple of days attending the World Travel Market event being held at the ExCel exhibition centre. On the evening of 6th November the OCEANDIVA held it’s first ever event by hosting a number of invited guests (planned to be approximately 150) to attend a networking event on board as well as showing off the vessel to prospective clients.
The following video includes a time-lapse of the transit, a slide-show of photographs and a longer, real-time, video of the transit.
The process of attaining the various classifications and certifications continues and It is anticipated that OCEANDIVA will undertake further tests events in preparation for a new license application – this post will be updated with details of any of these activities that are noted.
Update 1st February 2024
The sun sets on the OceanDiva London project.
Today, 1st February 2024, Smart Group who were the commercial operators of the vessel announced that they are terminating the project and the vessel will be returned to it’s Dutch owners.
The full statement can be read here.
Update 19th February 2024
The intervening period between the announcement of the termination of the project and the departure saw various fittings being removed including AV equipment and life-rafts.
A little after 8am on Monday 19th February 2024 the Oceandiva London vessel left the Royal Docks under tow back to the Netherlands after the parent company that owns the vessel decided to terminate the London project.
Having spent an elapsed time of 276 days in London (mostly in the Royal Docks aside from a couple of test runs on the Thames and 17 days in Chatham for repairs) the vessel only hosted one, limited guest, event.
Hopefully the aborted project will have provided both operators and regulators with some useful lessons learned and performance data.
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