The River's Renaissance

It is the UK's biggest inland waterway, offering a congestion-free route into the centre of the UK's largest population – and increasingly, shippers, wharf operators and logistics planners are understanding and exploiting the huge part that the River Thames can play in cost-efficient, low-carbon supply chains.

Nearly 2 million tonnes of cargoes, including aggregates, petroleum products, containers, household refuse and construction spoil, are carried up and down the Thames every year, removing thousands of trucks from the capital's roads, and the PLA believes this figure could triple within a very short amount of time.

Key opportunities including Crossrail and other major infrastructure projects are clearly driving great interest in transport by water; but alongside these, there is an increasing desire to make the most of the river as a transport solution.

Jim Trimmer, the PLA's head of planning and partnerships, says a major part of his job is facilitating the "river’s renaissance".

"We do spend a lot of time convincing people that transport on the Thames isn’t something sepia-tinted, with people raising their hats to each other on London Bridge," he says. "The scale of things on the river now is entirely different from that seen fifty years ago. Industry is different. Today, 50,000 tonne ships are handled at Tate & Lyle's refinery at Silvertown. But the justification for using the Thames is the same as it was 2,000 years ago. It is a hugely attractive option because it's predictable, it's free from congestion, and the tide provides an environmentally friendly boost to ships."

Some feared that "green" supply chain aspirations would falter in the face of recession, but Jim Trimmer says that the opposite is true. In difficult times, people are often more open to new and innovative ways of doing things.

"In this difficult economic climate, people are taking time to consider whether there are new ways of doing things – and we are starting to see the results," he says.  "Certainly we haven’t seen enquiries about wharfage, industrial developments and the use of the upper river decreasing; if anything, these enquiries are going up. And we are seeing new sectors looking at innovative ways of using the river.

"At the PLA, we are responsible for navigation and marine matters – but we can also help coordinate a lot of commercial activities and proposals, and bring all the parties together to turn ideas into reality."

The Thames can accommodate barges of nearly 1,000 tonnes capacity as far upriver as Fulham – and that is the equivalent of over 60 HGV movements. And. as Jim Trimmer points out, the increasing base load of materials moving in and out of London by water is creating a critical mass for barge operations and encouraging others to consider the river as an integral part of their logistics.

"There is a good deal of interest in energy projects, for example – including energy-from-waste and other technologies. There is a real focus on environmentally friendly technologies and the river is ideally suited for the necessary feedstocks."

Overall, says Jim Trimmer, various projects are looking to use riverside facilities at locations that haven’t seen freight for years. It will take a while – these things don’t happen overnight – but steadily the PLA is seeing operators looking to take advantage of the increasing synergies that are emerging.

But there is far more to the river than rubbish. Two years ago, a major supermarket chain ran trials running barges of containers upriver to its West London stores. Work is continuing to develop this concept and he is optimistic that the planning already undertaken on the project will bear fruit.

Two proposals for wood pelletisation projects are in the planning process, and two more are seeking potential wharfage sites.

But the river is only one part of the equation – the other essential factor is having the landside facilities in the right places. "It is all about getting the infrastructure right. If we are to have any sustainable increase in freight on the river, we need to ensure that viable infrastructure is protected," says Jim Trimmer.

This is where the PLA’s much-admired system of safeguarding wharves comes into its own.

"Safeguarding is absolutely right," he says. "But allied to that, we need to bring wharves back into operation or, in some cases, use them more intensively.  Some are being held back from the cargo-handling market, but the PLA remains committed to the policy of safeguarding wharves for operational use and, where necessary intervening to ensure that they are reactivated."

At present there are 50 safeguarded wharves in London, stretching all the way from Wandsworth to the eastern boundary of the city. "We have to maintain a very strong planning policy and we have worked with the Mayor of London to ensure that this remains the case in the capital.  We have had victories in this battle against other developments on these strategic sites – but they are only very important staging posts in the longer game to make use of water. The river can transport more freight than it does now, but we need to ensure that there are sites to handle it."

Crossrail Project

Crossrail has signed a memorandum of understanding with the PLA to maximise the use of the River Thames and the Port of London in its construction. The current proposals will see the transport of at least five million tonnes of spoil from the tunnelling stages of the project out of London by river. The river will also play a vital role in the transport inwards of massive tunnel boring machines, pre-cast concrete segments, aggregates, cement, steel rails, cable, tiles, tools and equipment required in the construction of the new rail route. "This is effectively one of Europe's largest civil engineering projects, taking place in a city with a river running through it," says Jim Trimmer.  "The solution is obvious."

More News

• Aggregate Industries operates a fleet of tugs and barges through its Bennett’s Barges business. In 2008, Bennett’s Barges transported more than 150,000 tonnes  of aggregate products from the Isle of Grain depot to its Thames customers, saving six million lorry miles.
• Plans to bring aviation fuel from Coryton Refinery to London City Airport by river instead of road are being investigated. Fuel could be unloaded by pipeline direct from the vessel to a new tank farm near the airport.
• The Tideway Tunnel project will also ship out spoil by river, and a condition of the project’s planning approval was also to bring in building materials by vessel.
• A good proportion of the biomass required for the power plant at Tate & Lyle’s Silvertown sugar refinery will come in by river.
• Cory Environmental’s waste-to-energy plant is swiftly taking shape at Belvedere.

(Article taken from the 2010 Port of London Handbook produced by Compass Publications. For copies please contact the PLA Corporate Affairs Team on 01474 562364, or please use this Enquiry Form.)