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.

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

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.

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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.

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

(Any additions or corrections to this list gratefully received)

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.

• Livett’s Group event setup for floating rock concert in KGV Lock
• Loading plant on to barges in the KGV Lock
• Marine engineering mobilisation in KGV Lock
• Artwork setup in KGV Lock
• Jetski freestyle championship in KGV Dock