Tag Archives: London’s Royal Docks

Blue Mermaid delivers!!

The Maritime Heritage Trust working with the Sea-Change Sailing Trust and other partners helped celebrate maritime heritage as part of Newham Heritage Month programme of activities and achieved some historic milestones along the way by securing the attendance of the Thames Sailing Barge BLUE MERMAID that not only provided public tours of the vessel but was also carrying a token cargo to support another of the heritage projects taking place in the Royal Docks area..

BLUE MERMAID with the MILLENNIUM MILLS, SS ROBIN and LIGHTSHIP 93 in the background

Pictures and a video of the BLUE MERMAID arriving at the Royal Docks can be seen here.

An early morning transit of the docks was supported by Livett’s Launches tug THAMES VIXEN which moved the BLUE MERMAID to it’s moorings alongside ExCel and the tug stayed near the barge and also attracted quite a bit of interest as it is not often that the public get to be that close to a tug in the docks these days.

Visitors were able to go on board the BLUE MERMAID and the friendly crew were happy to show people around and explain the history and operation of the vessel and it was also possible to go below decks to see the living spaces and cargo hold.

The vessel is designed to provide maritime skills training for young people but also has plans to be a commercial cargo carrying vessel with the internal spaces designed to be quickly converted from a training ship to a cargo vessel.

The team from the Sea-Change Sailing Trust are already planning to return to the Thames with a cargo of higher value foodstuffs as part of sail trading enterprise that has been growing over the last few years. The trust is also looking at moving palletized dry-bulk cargo from the Thames Estuary up to various locations in the middle Thames area.

Towards the end of the second day of public tours various representatives from the ‘Brickfields Newham’ project can to visit the Barge and to collet the token cargo of clay and sand (which will be used to make bricks) – it had been a long time since commercial cargo had been unloaded from a ship in Royal Victoria Dock and even longer since the vessel in question was powered only by the wind! History being made again in the Royal Docks.

Bags of clay and sand transported from Essex by sea

Many of the visitors commented about how nice it was to see vessels in the Docks and so it is hoped that this can become a more regular feature, both in terms of heritage vessels for the public to engage with but also for cargo trips especially using more environmentally friendly vessels.

All too soon it was time for the BLUE MERMAID to return to the Thames and to head off for it’s next job – this time to undertake crew training as handling a sailing barge takes a special skillset.

The following video shows the BLUE MERMAID departing the KGV Lock and heading off down the Thames.

Click on this link for more pictures of Thames Sailing Barges.

Blue Mermaid spotted in the Docks

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Not a mythical (or otherwise) creature of the sea but a Thames Sailing Barge. This vessel is special in that it is the newest Thames Sailing Barge that was commissioned in 2019 almost 90 years after her original namesake was built in 1930.

Blue Mermaid making her way along the Thames

The vessel is built using steel but is powered only by the wind and the energy of the crew and she was built for the express purpose to giving people, especially younger persons, access to maritime skills and experience with an ancillary role of being able to carry cargo.

The SeaChange Sailing Trust who own and operate the vessel are a charity based in Maldon, Essex, and this is the first time this vessel has visited the middle Thames or the Royal Docks. Thames Sailing Barges were once a common sight as were vessels delivering cargo – now a very rare event indeed.

Blue Mermaid passing a another cargo vessel on the Thames

As mentioned before the vessel is only powered by the wind and so the vessel has to make repeated turns to make progress when sailing in to the wind. The following screen grab from MarineTraffic website shows the route on approach to the Royal Docks – some skillful sailing on display on a blustery day!

As boats don’t have brakes (and this one doesn’t even have an engine) it requires the skillful use of ropes to guide the vessel to a stop at the correct point on the quayside and to then ensure it comes alongside the quay safely.

The reason for the Blue Mermaid’s visit is to help celebrate Newham Heritage Month by demonstrating one aspect of how the Royal Docks area played such a vital role in the transportation of goods in and out of London.

The vessel is also carrying a token cargo in support of one of the other projects in the Newham Heritage Month programme which is the “Brickfields Newham” project being run by Brickfield. The Blue Mermaid is carrying some clay provided by W H Collier Ltd along with some sand from the Thames Estuary (a common commodity transported daily by ships along the Thames).

The Blue Mermaid was open to visitors alongside the ExCel building during the afternoons of Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th May 2021 – a report about a visit onboard the barge can be seen here.

Click on this link for more pictures of Thames Sailing Barges.

Greener dredging in KGV Lock

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The river Thames carries a lot of silt and this can build up on the river bed, around wharves and piers and in the various locks that serve the enclosed water spaces.

As a result the Port of London Authority undertake regular survey works to keep track of the accumulation of silt and update their charts accordingly but periodically more active measures are required to provide safe navigation channels.

It is at this point that specialist dredging vessels are called in to assist and towards the end of April 2021 the PLA called in the specialist dredging company Van Oord to undertake works on the Thames, The vessel assigned to the task was the newly delivered water-injection dredger MAAS. This vessel has a range of new technology that improves the efficiency of the dredging operation and also uses a hybrid propulsion system that minimizes the vessel’s environmental impact.

As part of the works programme MAAS was assigned to spend an afternoon doing some clearance work in the KGV Lock in London’s Royal Docks area.

MAAS came up river under the guidance of a PLA river pilot who was then collected by the PLA Harbour Master’s launch LAMBETH.

The MAAS uses a water-injection system to dislodge the silt on the river bed and this system is mounted on a variable depth boom located at the stern of the vessel and for this reason the vessel reversed in to the KGV Lock.

I don’t think water-injection dredging is going to become a spectator sport anytime soon as there isn’t too much to see from the external viewpoint other than the vessel making repeated sweeps of the dredging area and some disturbance of the water (mainly, I think, from the vessel’s thrusters) but it is still a vital task that is required to maintain the operational efficiency of the port’s facilities.

The following video shows the arrival of MAAS at the Royal Docks and then some of the operations in the Lock.

For more pictures of MAAS please see here.

Other posts about dredging in the KGV Lock can be seen here when the vessel MAASMOND visited or when BORR visited.

#dlr_blog review of 2020

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When 2020 started things were looking quite promising with quite a few new and interesting vessels planning to pay a visit to the Thames in London – then Covid-19 struck the world and things changed dramatically for so many people in so many ways.

The River Thames was very quiet with only limited numbers of movements from mainly locally based operators such as key workers of the Port of London Authority and vessels belonging to the Police, Fire Service and the RNLI.

Some of the local tug operations continued such as the refuse collections by Cory and some construction projects that used river transport continued, either with some down-time or at reduced levels. More pictures of these tugs can be seen here.

Thames Clippers also introduced new branding in connection with their partnership with Uber in the form of Uber Boat and another venture they launched was a fast parcel river delivery service in conjunction with DHL.

The Thames Tideway Tunnel project continued to transport spoil, tunnel segments and construction materials using the river and also delivered a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) by river with MTS Vanquish bringing in TBM Selina on top of jack-up transporter barge Skylift 3000.

The main impact was on the number of visitors from outside London. As the table below shows, only a handful of military vessels visited and very few luxury yachts, Only two tall ships called in London and no cruise liners at all this year.

Traditional Thames Sailing Barge WILL did operate a commercial cargo run up the Thames during September using sail power for as much of the trip up the Thames as was safe and practicable to do so.

The operations at the Tate and Lyle plant continued and regular supplies of raw materials continued albeit with slightly fewer ships visiting than in previous years. A full list of visitors can be seen here.

Work on the London City Airport CADP phase one was completed and all the vessels and equipment had left by early September. The Livett’s Group continued to operate from their logistics base in the KGV Dock and a few PR events staged from the KGV Lock. A review of the CADP project can be seen here.

The Wood Wharf floating restaurant project being the source of a number of movements during the year and a report can be seen here.

Towards the end of the year a couple of celebrities went floating past – the first was Borat helping to promote a film and then in November Liam Gallagher filmed the Down by the River Thames concert on a barge.

**Liam Gallagher’s Down by the River Thames concert**

A few vessel statistics for 2020 (some vessels visited more than once):

Bulk cargo ships visiting Thames Refinery – 21 deliveries
Other Cargo ships (mainly doing pick-ups from Charlton + a few Tideway project related) – 37
Naval vessels – 5 (4 RN + 1 HNLMS)
Cruise ships – 0
Sailing ships – 2 (1 sail cargo trip and 1 in connection with the Darwin 200 events).
Luxury Yachts – 3 (of which 2 were smaller expedition size vessels)
Visitors to KGV Lock – 135 (many of these were multiple visitors and i might have missed a few!!)

A strange year with many long-lasting impacts for many people but hopefully things will rebound as 2021 progresses – we will have to wait to see what that looks like in terms of traffic on the Thames.

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

London City Airport new taxiway goes live

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When the airfield opened for business on Monday 23rd November 2020 the new parallel taxiway became available for operational use.

The first commercial passenger flight to make use of the new taxiway at London City Airport was KLM flight KL994 to Amsterdam operated by E190 PH-EZY. A pity it was after dark so not the best images but still on record for posterity.

The new taxiway is a core element of the London City Airport Development Programme (CADP) and it extends from the end of the former apron area and runs past the area for the provision of up to eight new aircraft parking stands and then connects with and newly expanded Eastern holding area.

New aircraft parking apron with Operations Vehicles

The work also includes a new taxiway link (Taxiway Foxtrot) to the runway which connects at the location of the turning circle that was put in place when the runway was first built.

Removing the temporary closure barriers from Link Foxtrot

The new taxiway also includes three new interim holding points, these are designated Tango 7, Tango 8 and Tango 9 and are located between the end of the new apron (just West of the link Foxtrot) and the newly enlarged Eastern holding area (just West of link Kilo).

On Friday the 13th November 2020 the first trials of the new taxiway were undertaken by British Airways Cityflyer Embraer E190 G-LCYO. The aircraft ran through a number of pre-planned taxi patterns to test that the various entry and exit profiles between the taxiway and runway met the design parameters and to provide general feedback on the use of the taxiway and new link and holds. A second test run was undertaken after dark to ensure a full test of the new facility.

Where the new taxiway joins the old holding point area

The following timelapse video shows the afternoon test run.

The new taxiway also has space for a vehicle path for Airfield Operations and Airport Fire Service vehicles and a parking layby is provided just West of holding point Tango 9.

The purpose of the new taxiway is mainly focused on improving runway utilisation rates by removing the need to provide wider separation between aircraft during runway back-tracking operations. This has obvious safety benefits and should help reduced the number of missed approaches caused by aircraft not clearing the active runway in a timely manner.

A further benefit should be a reduction in the time between engine startup and wheels up from the runway as the extra space and removal of the back-tracking requirement should help save time and reduce ground noise and emissions.

A full video showing the taxiway trials , including some night footage, can be seen below.

Rock n Roll Royals

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The Royal Docks is often used as a location for the set–up work for various PR events due to the non-tidal waters with good road access and areas of hard-standings with the benefit of being a little bit out of the public gaze (apart from me!!).

The end result – Liam Gallagher and band on a boat on the Thames in London

It remains to be seen how the redevelopment plans for the area will affect this facility but in the meantime I hope the interesting projects keep coming to the area.

So, back to Rock and Roll.

The latest project being undertaken by the Livett’s Group involved the creation of a floating stage for a music performance along with a full TV outside broadcast facility. To facilitate this the Livett’s team deployed their large P2 pontoon with tug Felix providing the motive power and luxury charter vessel Edwardian was used as a floating ‘green room’.

Edwardian acting as logistics base — Felix + P2 rigging the stage

In addition camera boat Equity and fast launch Lima Lima 1 were used to ferry personnel and to act as camera boats during the filming of the event.

Whilst the Royal Docks is often used for the preparation activity it is less often that the “star” of the show is seen in the area but on this occasion Liam Gallagher and his band used the location as a staging point for getting afloat.

As darkness fell the barge and accompanying boats started making their way up the Thames and were joined by a helicopter that was used to get some additional shots of the various Thames landmarks as the band and stage made their way towards Tower Bridge.

I wonder what we will see next at Gallions Point as a followup to having Liam Gallagher down by the river Thames?

CADP @ LCY (London City Airport Development Programme)

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Back in 2016 London CIty Airport (LCY) finally received planning permission on appeal for a £480m expansion programme, known as City Airport Development Programme (CADP), which was to include a new parallel taxiway, new aircraft stands and an expansion of the passenger terminal alongside various enabling works.

View West along the KGV Dock prior to commencement of CADP works

In the pre-Covid-19 world these improvements were needed to meet the ever growing numbers of passengers making use of LCY and the new aircraft stands would also allow the airport to be used by newer generation aircraft with a smaller environmental footprint. The future is somewhat less certain at this time!

Another key element of the programme was to deliver a full length parallel taxiway which would increase the operational capacity of the airport and would also bring safety and environmental benefits.

Both the additional aircraft stands and the new parallel taxiway would be built in the KGV Dock and rather than filing in part of the Dock to create the new land the decision was taken to construct a concrete platform – as had been done for the previous apron extension a few years earlier.

This would entail the placing of around 1100 piles and 6222 precast concrete segments to create the terminal extension base, aircraft stands and parallel taxiway.

At the height of the works the KGV Dock was the businest it has been since the early 1980s with numbers of tugs and barges (but no large ships) criss-crossing the waters on a daily basis.

As the East End of London and especially the various Dock areas had been a prime target for bombing raids during WW2 before any construction works could take place a full survey of the Dock had needed to be undertaken to look for any unexploded bombs (UXBs).

A number of floating dive platforms were constructed by TopBond PLC who also made use of a number of their vessels to support a systematic survey of the Dock floor – turns out it was a good job they did as they found a 500lb UXB near the existing apron extension – this led to a airport and neighbourhood closure until the device was removed for disposal (story of the UXB incident here).

The construction of the concrete platforms over the Dock would be lead by BAM Nuttall and for this they established a logistics base on the the Southern dock edge with two static cranes and then used a number of floating work pontoon some of which were constructed from modular floating blocks. These pontoons were then used to drill the holes for the piles and then to left the piling tubes in to place and finally to pour the cement in to the casings.

The concrete beams and decking were then craned in to place like a giant jigsaw puzzle – 6222 pieces in total.

Most of the spoil that was excavated was removed by barge to be used in various land reclamation projects in the Thames estuary and this did save large numbers of lorry movements but it was a little surprising that only limited use was made of water transport for the delivery of the construction materials.

All of the pile casings and concrete beams were transported by road to the Royal Docks before being transferred to the construction barges in the Dock.

Once the decking had been completed the final preparation works, including the placement of dock-edge safety fencing, were completed ready for the commissioning trails that led to the operational availability of the new parking stands and parallel taxiway.

Vessels known to have operated in the KGV Dock in support of the CADP project include:

Topbond

Issac

Naom 1

Thor

Toplift

Toploader

GPS Marine

Distributor

GPS Anglia

GPS Arcadia

GPS Battler

GPS Cambria

GPS Cervia

GPS Iberia

GPS Illyria

GPS India

GPS Ionia

GPS Napia

Racia

Thamescraft Dry Docking Services

Dalby Venture

Devour

Devout

Emilia D

Jack D

Livett’s Group

Christian

Felix

Steven B

Thames Vixen

CWL

Haven Supporter

Husky

Malamute

Punisher

Opus One – renamed Siberian

MST Workboats

Progress

Protector

Other operators

C C Marine	Apprentice
Portflair Ltd	Jean T
Port of London Authority	Galloper
Port of London Authority	Thame
Port of London Authority	Yantlet
Predator Marine Charters	Assassin
Predator Marine Charters	Jumbo
S Walsh	SWS Essex
S Walsh	SWS Norfolk
Thames Marine Services	Armador II
Thames Marine Services	Gosso
Thames Marine Services	Heiko
	Helena

Changing cranes

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The KGV Lock has long been used as a location for loading and unloading equipment and plant from barges and pontoons due to the fact it is a non-tidal protected area of water that make such operations safer and easier to undertake.

There is a question mark hanging over the future of this facility though as the future development plans for the area show new buildings much closer to the dock edge and less convenient road access routes – something that seems to go against the London Plan and the protection of the Blue Ribbon network!!

Anyway, back to the present and a recent where one large crane was taken off a pontoon and a slightly smaller was loaded in it’s place.

The pontoon was provided by the Livett’s Group and Thamescraft Dry Docking provided the Emilia D and the Dalby Venture to keep the pontoon in place and the latter also had a supply of wooden beams used to help the cranes drive off and on the pontoon.

Operations such as this one are good examples of #STEM in action with plenty of physics and mechanics involved when it comes to moving heavy items of plant off and on a floating pontoon whilst keeping everything safe and secure!

Both of the cranes were Liebherr mobile cranes, with a LR 1110 Crawler crane operated by Hawks Crane Hire being unloaded first.

Then a LTR 1100 operated by Sarens took its place.

The following fast-motion video shows the action with the first crane also assisting with the moving of the boards to assist the loading of the second crane.

Concrete Boats

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…. 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.