Tragic Year Chiefton Comment
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THE PORT OF LONDON AUTHORITY MAGAZINE b ISSUE 12 b SPRING 2012 2-3.qxd:Tidal Thames9.qxd 08/05/2012 16:50 Page 1 Tragic Year Chiefton Comment How can I sum up the Some of my colleagues tragedy and loss suffered in the Port of London by the Thames As we face a year of Authority knew those community during 2011? unprecedented activity who died. Ben came from a long line of Within the space of a few on the river, I’d ask you Thames watermen, well weeks, three people died all to reflect on how known and respected on in tragic boat accidents precious the Thames the river. Darren had on the tidal Thames. and its users are to each many friends in the PLA, These incidents are not and every one of us. who are still coming to connected; neither do terms with his loss. they share a common It’s not that any regular cause. They happened in Thames user doesn’t different parts of the river to people with realise the river’s potential for taking life; very different skills. it’s just human nature to think, to hope, Death on the tideway isn’t new, of that bad things won’t happen to people course. In an average year the police and we know. Editor: rescue services pull around 20 bodies However, 2011 has proved that tragedy Doug Kempster from the Thames. Each represents a life Design: can strike at the heart of our community. 360create 0208 166 1597 lost, families devastated. But virtually So, as we face a year of unprecedented Photographers: none are linked to boating activities. Andy Wallace activity on the river, I’d ask you all to Wayne McCabe Deaths among the Thames leisure reflect on how precious the Thames and Gavin Parsons boating and commercial vessel Sam Ashfield its users are to each and every one of us. communities are incredibly rare, despite Port of London Authority Achieving high standards of river safety is London River House the fact this sector makes more than our ongoing and collective responsibility. Royal Pier Road 300,000 journeys on the river annually. Gravesend We need to work with, and look out for, Kent DA12 2BG, UK So when keen kayaker Will Carus died each other. We owe that much to Will, Enquiries: near Twickenham; waterman Ben Ben and Darren. [email protected] Woollacott was fatally injured following an Telephone: accident on the Woolwich Ferry; and tug 01474 562 305 engineer Darren Lacey was lost when the For more information on the Port of London Chiefton sank off Greenwich; we all felt – Richard Everitt Authority, go to: and continue to feel – a very deep and Chief Executive www.pla.co.uk personal loss. Port of London Authority 2 2-3.qxd:Tidal Thames9.qxd 08/05/2012 16:50 Page 2 Forth Expands its Third Chiefton Thames operator Forth Ports has per cent ownership of TCS we sea and short sea customers.” taken control of Tilbury Container plan to combine our existing TCS, which has traded primarily Services (TCS). short sea container terminal with destinations in South America with TCS to create a new The company, which already owns and South Africa, handled around container business called the Port of Tilbury, originally had a 314,000 containers last year – up ‘London Container Terminal’. third share in TCS. 2.4 per cent on 2010. “The combined terminal will But, in January, it bought out its The Port of Tilbury’s short sea handle close to half a million partners DP World and Associated routes with continental Europe and containers and it makes us the British Ports. the UK carried 126,000 containers third largest single container in 2011 – up 7.6 per cent the Charles Hammond, the company’s operation in the UK and one of the previous year. chief executive, said: “With 100 few UK ports servicing both deep City Cruises is launching one of the river’s largest scheduled passenger boats. The 37 metre, 434 tonne Third Generation RiverLiner, or 3GR, will be able to accommodate up to 600 people. It will be powered by two Cummins QSM-11 high performance diesel engines with electronic fuel management for improved economy. Solar panels will recharge its batteries continuously. Designed and built in Croatia, the catamaran is part of a £4million fleet upgrade at City Cruises. The company, which already carries around 2 million passengers on its central London routes each year, expects the new vessel to enter service in time for the Olympics. Gun Fort Fisherman Found A fisherman was stranded in an Kent, and search for its crew. “However, at first light a passing abandoned sea fort after Rescuers recovered the body of vessel spotted a man waving from becoming separated from one fisherman but, following high up inside one of the Red his boat. exhaustive coastguard enquiries Sands Towers. Rescuers The man, who hasn’t been named at the Lisa K’s home port of recovered him and he was by coastguards, spent a night Ramsgate, they knew another transferred to hospital by the RAF high up inside one of the Red person – the skipper – was still to be assessed for hypothermia. Sands Towers – a complex of missing. “The Lisa K is a potting boat World War II gunnery platforms in Julia Gosling from the Maritime which has been working out the Thames Estuary. and Coastguard Agency said: of Ramsgate for shell and He’d been at the centre of a major “A search began for the skipper crab fishing. search and rescue operation after because two people were “The rescued skipper reported his drifting boat, Lisa K, was believed to be on board the vessel that they had been on one of tracked on radar by Port of when it left Ramsgate. the Red Sands Towers – nearly London Authority Vessel Traffic “Whitstable, Sheerness and six miles from where the vessel Services Officers in February. Margate RNLI lifeboats and the was found drifting. His crewman Coastguards ordered three rescue helicopter from RAF had gone into the water after lifeboats and a Royal Air Force Wattisham searched the sea. But the boat began drifting away helicopter to intercept the vessel the skipper was not found during from the platform.” seven miles north of Herne Bay, the night. Buoy The PortBrand of London Authority says the ship will be a brand of “It’s undoubtedly time for a has unveiled its marine ‘Swiss its own. change; if the local fire brigade Army Knife’. drove around in 43-year-old fire “The MMV’s jobs and the areas it engines, people would soon start The giant multi-tasker – pictured will operate in are so diverse, there asking why!” above – has been dubbed the wasn’t an ‘off-the-peg’ ship to suit Mooring Maintenance Vessel, or us, so we’ve had to design and The MMV will carry more deck MMV for short. build our own,” says Peter Steen, gear than the existing salvage It’s been designed to lay buoys, PLA director of marine operations. ships, including spud legs for positioning, two very large cranes, haul wreckage from the bottom of “The vessels it replaces – and more winches the river, support dive operations, Hookness and Crossness, the and even dredge. ‘Ness Boats’ – were launched in With a price-tag of around It will be squat and shallow the 1960s as successors to our £6.9million, the PLA says the ship enough to negotiate bridges steam-driven salvage ships. is a crucial investment not only for and mudbanks as far upriver “Although they’re still robust, many servicing the river today, but also as Richmond, and robust enough of the Ness Boats’ replacement the Thames of tomorrow. to face the estuary’s windswept parts are no longer available, so “We carried out a study into the waters. we’ve been custom-building our cost of stripping-out and updating The PLA, which signed-off the own – making ongoing servicing our existing salvage ships,” says contract to begin building this and maintenance time-consuming Alan Cartwright, the authority’s unique Thames grafter in March, and expensive. head of marine engineering. 4 “But we found this wouldn’t be on the particular job it is sent Manor Marine of Portland, Dorset. cost effective and, most to do. Alan says: “We put the building importantly, it would give us no And, because only one Ness Boat contract out to tender and Manor capacity or flexibility to meet is usually operational at a time – Marine came top. future demands. with the second on stand-by – the “We’re now looking forward to “The MMV has been designed not port authority says replacing them seeing this unique vessel in service only to suit our needs today, but with a single MMV will not impact towards the end of next year.” also for what could be required of on the PLA’s salvage capabilities. us in years to come. The vessel was designed by UK-based “The new ship will give us decades naval architects of service so, set against this, the MacDuff Ship Design in outlay is good value for money.” close collaboration with The MMV will weigh-in at around PLA marine engineers, 650 tonnes. It will be more than 36 masters and crews. metres long and 13.5 metres wide, And, in a boost to with a maximum draft of 2.2 British shipbuilding, the metres and an air draft of just over port authority has six metres. awarded the Its crew size will vary depending construction contract to Regal AID Commentators have claimed marching soldiers stop, they stop.