Tag Archives: London’s Royal Docks

Boats filming boats in London

London is a popular location for the production of TV and Films (apparently the third largest centre for film production in the world) with it’s many iconic locations including the various waterways that have featured on screen over the decades.

Towards the end of 2022 the River Thames and the Dock areas of East London have once again become the focus of attention with the Royal Docks being both a logistics base and a filming location. The production is said to be an action-comedy called ‘Back in Action’ being produced for Netflix.

**Some of the vessels heading to Royal Victoria Dock**

It is interesting to note that this production may be one of the last to feature the Rank Hovis Mill in Royal Victoria Dock (which is accidental as it should have been demolished before filming took place but that demolition is running behind schedule!) but many of the new places being created will certainly be of equal interest to production crews as demonstrated with the Royal Albert Dock ABP ghost town that has featured in numerous shoots already.

Some of the action takes place on the water and at night with a pair of very smart boats appearing to be the focus of the action. Built by Cornish boatbuilders Cockwells the pair are a yacht tender called GRACE and Duchy Sport motor launch called ROCK ANGEL – the pair having arrived in London by road.

Once again Livett’s are providing a range of their vessels to support the filming works alongside a large-scale collaboration with a number of London based Thames operators.

The following table lists the operators and their vessels that have been identified supporting this filming project.

It is possible that other vessels were used both within the Docks and also on the River Thames but only confirmed sightings are included in the above table.

A few close-up shots of the hoists being used to hold the lighting rigs in support of the filming.

Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton Relay in Royal Albert Dock

1 Reply

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebration weekend coincided with the visit to London of the Queen’s Commonwealth Games Baton and as part of a number of events across the capital several stages of the relay took place in the Royal Docks area of the London Borough of Newham.

One aspect of this included the transportation of the Baton by boat through parts of the royal group of docks from near City Hall to Royal Albert Wharf.

**QXDBR2022 Flotilla in Royal Albert Dock**

Billed by the event organisers as an “eye-popping 25-boat flotilla” the reality was somewhat less inspiring and a real shame that there was no easy way to determine from which watersports organisations the participating craft came from.

Of the 13 vessels that actually took part two where from the Metropolitan Police’s Marine Unit that provided two of their fast patrol RIBs to provide security and as a camera platform (there was little chance of marauding vessels in the otherwise deserted expanse of the Docks!).

The locally based Windy Pandas Dragon Boat club provided one of the 4 Dragon Boats in the event and also had the honour of carrying the Baton. Other boats were crewed by the Typhoon Dragon Boat club, the Thames Dragons Dragon Boat club and a forth, as yet, unidentified club.

There were also three rowing teams from the London Otters Rowing Club.

Unfortunately the final rowing boat didn’t make it all the way to the end of the Royal Albert Dock and turned back without the participants being identified – this rowing boat was also accompanied by a RIB operated by the Atlantic Pacific Lifeboat organisation (soon to build their new Royal Docks training base).

The final 2 boats were provided by the Docks management company, one safety boat and one workboat that was used by the event organisers with more security personnell and photographers on board.

Good to witness a piece of history but a shame the event was over promised and under delivered.

A few more pictures from the event can be seen here,

#Oi22 – searching for underwater answers

1 Reply

After a 4 year break (thanks to Covid) the bi-annual Oceanology International trade event returned to the ExCel London Exhibition Centre in London’s Royal Docks.

As the exhibition is focused on marine technology the Royal Victoria Dock in East London provides a perfect location for demonstrating various equipment and technologies.

**Solent Guardian and USVs in Royal Victoria Dock**

The number of larger, crewed, vessels was down on previous events as the shift towards un-crewed vessels continues, the following vessels were noted in Royal Victoria Dock:

Solent Guardian operated by Briggs Marine and Thame operated by Port of London Authority were both returning visitors to the event.

Other returning visitors are the sailing ship Kommandoren operated by Hays Ships and the yacht Rani.

The survey vessel Marshall Art operated by B Marshall Marine was a first time visitor as was the Fugro operated SEA-KIT X-class 12m USV Fugro Orca.

Some more pictures of the vessels can be seen here.

Cargo at KGV

1 Reply

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:

CELTIC ENDEAVOUR (5) @ KGV Lock 20-02-22

#dlr_blog review of 2021

KGV Lock – 100 not out

4 Replies

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.

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.

KGV 5-0

2 Replies

If you happened to be passing the King George V Dock in London’s Royal Docks during the morning of 8th December 2021 you might have wondered if there was some kind of Police incident or perhaps more movie filming taking place given the Police vehicles, boats and flashing blue lights.

In reality it was just some routine cross-agency training for open-water rescue – quite reminiscent of the famous image of Port of London Authority Police testing lifejackets in West India Dock back in the 1930s – always nice to find historical connections!

**Image courtesy of Museum of London / PLA**

The exercise on this occasion was a joint operation between the UK Boarder Force who had deployed three of their Jet-Skis and the Met Police Marine Unit that had deployed a pair of their new Zodiac Milpro UK Inflatable Boats and a number of Police Officers were also present to undertake open-water rescue training using the various craft to practice personnel recovery techniques.

The Jet Skis were equipped with rescue sleds that were used to carry the rescuers and the casualties once recovered from the water.

Sometimes the deployment of the rescuers didn’t score highly in terms of execution but it was achieving the end result that mattered!

There is always time for a bit of plane spotting whilst you are training!!

As an interesting aside due to Port of London Authority regulations Jet Skis are not allowed to operate on the Thames in London and this seemingly includes the Police – from the training session today you could see the utility of Police Jet Skis on the Thames as they combine speed and access to confined spaces – perhaps something for the future?

A short video of some of the training activity.

North Woolwich Naval Base

4 Replies

The King George V (KGV) Lock in London’s Royal Docks doesn’t see very many visits from larger vessels these days and only occasional visits from naval vessels – of which the later are mainly in connection with the biennial defence show (Report on DSEI 2021 here) – so it was interesting to hear that 5 warships were to visit the Royal Docks during early October 2021.

It also seemed rather fitting than in the 100th anniversary year of the opening of the KGV Lock & Dock complex that once again the Lock would be full of vessels from Germany, Latvia, Belgium and Norway (and staff from Poland) with the crews enjoying a run ashore in London (not sure the bright lights of North Woolwich quite compare with the attractions of Canary Wharf which had been the original planned berth!).

The Belgian crew appear disappointed to hear that they had missed the Ferry Festival 😉

NATO operates 4 standing naval groups – one pair operates in the North Atlantic and associated waters and the other in the Mediterranean. Both regions have a Mine Countermeasures group which undertake historic ordnance disposal as well as operational training – the command of the group rotates on a regular basis as do the vessels that form the flotilla. SNMCMG1 have visited London on a number of previous occasions – report here).

At the time of the visit to the Royal Docks SNMCMG1 comprised of:

**Replenishment Ship FGS Elbe (command flagship)**

Port-calls such as this one are both regular and routine and serve a number of important functions – it gives the crews a break from sea routine and a chance to explore strange new worlds (Albert Island!!). It also provides and opportunity to do a bit of maintenance, load up on fresh provisions and to throw away the rubbish. The visits also serve a diplomatic function and allow the public to see NATO in action. (Quite nice for shipping enthusiasts too!).

As part of their operational role the Minehunting ships use a range of sensors, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and divers to detect and destroy mines – increasingly this task will be undertaken by uncrewed autonomous vessels (UAVs) operated from a ‘mother-ship’ so the smaller mine hunting vessels will become a rarer sight.

As these vessels operate in a defensive role of mine clearance they do not carry heavy guns or missiles and thus operate either in uncontested waters or under the umbrella of a larger surface action group. The vessels do carry a range of either heavy machine guns or small cannons in the force protection role or to neutralize surface mines.

**BNS Primula – Browning M2 .50 cal machine gun**

A few night shots of the flotilla in the KGV Lock can be seen below:

The following video shows the departure of the 5 warships from the KGV Lock.

More pictures of the visiting vessels can be seen here and more information on the NATO Maritime Command can be found here.

Formula E racing comes to ExCel London

1 Reply

After a delay of a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic the FIA Formula E event returned to London after a break of 5 years to run a twin race weekend towards the end of July 2021. Due to the continuing COVID restrictions in place it meant that the event was not open to the public.

The ExCel estate was always going to provide a challenging environment to create a race track as it uses services roads and approximately a quarter of the track (and the pit land) is inside the exhibition centre and it goes both up and down inclined roadway sections..

I decided to head down to the location during the late afternoon of the Friday to coincide with the running of Free Practice 1 session – without being able to secure tickets only limited views were to be had but I did come across an Electric Mini safety car and a Michelin branded Porsche.

Having found a suitable vantage point I managed to capture a few interesting shots of FP1.

The following is a short video clip showing some of the cars in action along the North Eastern section of the track.

From a wider perspective it is impossible to know how different things might have been without the impact of the pandemic but it was very disappointing how little effort the various local organisations put in to engaging with the local residents (who were impacted to a degree by the event) or doing anything about raising awareness of electric vehicle technology. Definitely a missed opportunity to engage with the local community and to promote the area.

Similarly the Docks saw very little activity – certainly no Monaco vide (irrespective of the weather) – the only vessels were in attendance were the BOSS racing yacht supporting the brand who are an event sponsor and the motor yacht SIGRID OF CHELSEA – nothing else aside from two safety boats.

Visiting on the Saturday were hospitality vessels SILVER STURGEON and SILVER BARACUDDA of the London based Woods Silver Fleet, there were no additional visitors on the Sunday and the visiting vessels left on the Monday.

The event is due to return to London ExCel for future races but it will be interesting to see how the planned development of the Eastern end of the estate will impact this due to the removal of a large area of track and associated stands – a case of wait and see!

**British rookie Jake Dennis of BMW i Andretti Motorsport was winner of Round 12**

A few more pictures from the session can be seen here.

100th anniversary of the opening of the KGV Dock in London

2 Replies

On the 8th July 1921 the third, and final, of the Royal Group of Docks in the East end of London were formally opened by King George V.

This video shows the ceremonial cutting of the ribbon to mark the official opening.

Whilst the Docks and local authority ward are known as the ‘Royal Docks’ they derive this name from the thematic naming of the three main dock areas rather than being owned by the Crown.

The completion of the KGV Dock had been delayed by World War One and so it opened some 66 years after the first dock, Royal Victoria Dock, had been opened and remained in operation until December 1981 when the Royal Group of Docks ceased commercial operations as a port.

The KGV Dock has it’s own lock for access to the Thames and this lock is the sole surviving large vessel lock serving the Royal Docks with two of the others having been filled in and the forth one having been reduced in size to serve as a small craft lock for the marina at Royal Albert Basin.

KGV Lock – showing the full lock space with the outer gates partially open and the quarter lock gates fully open

The sight of any large vessels within the Royal Docks complex is very rare these days (the two floating hotels don’t count) although the KGV Dock did see much higher levels of activity in support of London City Airport’s phase one CADP works – nothing like it’s heyday but still a welcome sight of vessels using the water space.

The waters of the KGV Dock have returned to their normal quiet and almost deserted state with just a few stored boats and pontoons moored alongside the remaining dolphins and there are plans to use some of the water area to trial floating solar power collectors.

Mooring dolphins along the Southern edge of the KGV Dock

The KGV Lock sees a bit more use with the loading of equipment on to barges and various vessel maintenance activities taking place but it will be interesting to see how the proposed boatyard and other developments on Albert Island might affect these operations in the future.

The following table is a review of the last known visit to the KGV Lock by larger vessels of various types – as can be seen below, these are rare and the water space is under utilised by anything other than small dinghy’s and rowing boats.

(Any additions or corrections to this list gratefully received)

DATE	VESSEL TYPE	VESSEL NAME
JULY 2012	Sailing Ship	Swaensborgh
AUGUST 2012	Cruise Ship	Columbus 2
MARCH 2016	Luxury Yacht (ExCel event)	Sanssouci Star
JUNE 2017	Offshore Support Vessel (ExCel event)	Atlantic Enterprise
MARCH 2017	Cargo Ship	Haringvliet
SEPTEMBER 2019	Warship (ExCel event)	HMS Medway
MAY 2020	Transporter Barge	TRONDS BARGE 28
MAY 2021	Thames Sailing Barge (ExCel event)	Blue Mermaid

The following blog posts also give an overview of some of the activities that take place within the KGV Lock area although the upcoming redevelopment of Albert Island will impinge on the future projects.

Operator	vessel	image
Livett’s
	BRAVO LIMA GB
	ECHO LIMA 1
	EQUITY	(just arrived back in London after refit)
	INDIGO LIMA
	ROMEO LIMA
	SCHELDEMOND II

Pontoons – used as mobile lighting platform	DART
	DEVELOPER

Cockwells
	GRACE
	ROCK ANGEL

Diving Services UK
	PIONER ‘DB’

Thamescraft Dry Docking
	EMILIA D
	FELIX
	JENNY D

Thames RIB Experience
	ULTIMATE

Thames Rockets
	ROCKET ONE

Thames Tigers
	TIGER ONE

Fugro Orca USV
Kommandoren
Solent Guardian
Rani
Marshall Art
Thame
CEiiA Orca USV
Seafloor Systems EchoBoat-240 USV
Maritime Robotics Otter Pro USV
Teledyne Oceanscience Z-Boat 1800RP USV
L3harris C-Worker 7 USV
Swathe Services USS202 USV
GEOD BALI USV200
L3harris C-CAT 3 ASV
L3harris CW79 USV

Dock, Lock and River Blog (#dlr_blog)

A blog by @AJBC_1 about things going on around Gallions Point, East London – mainly boats but could be other things too.

Tag Archives: London’s Royal Docks

Boats filming boats in London

Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton Relay in Royal Albert Dock

#Oi22 – searching for underwater answers

Cargo at KGV

#dlr_blog review of 2021

KGV Lock – 100 not out

KGV 5-0

North Woolwich Naval Base

Formula E racing comes to ExCel London

100th anniversary of the opening of the KGV Dock in London