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.
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