During 2005, the PLA joined the elite group of European ports to gain EcoPorts certification, following our efforts to meet rigorous environmental standards throughout the Thames.
Herman Journee, chairman of the EcoPorts organisation, presented the EcoPorts Port Environmental Review System (PERS) certificate to PLA Chief Executive Richard Everitt.
PERS is a European standard system designed by the industry to help ports comply fully with the recommendations set out in the Environmental Code of Practice of the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO). The award demonstrates that all PLA staff are committed to investing in environmental management and achieving best environmental practice in its activities.
We are committed to the protection of the River and estuary environment of the Thames, which includes European Marine Sites designated by the European Union due to their importance for certain bird species.
We have put in place an Environmental Management System (EMS) to help establish, improve and monitor our overall environmental performance. Throughout 2005 we continued to work towards ISO 14001, the international standard for environmental management systems; our EMS and other activities being the subject of assessment for ISO 14001 certification (and ISO 9001 re-certification) by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance in March 2006.
Workplace Environmental Measures
As part of our EMS, we have been assessing the impacts the PLA makes on the environment and taking steps to reduce them where possible. This work builds on previous efforts and the system ensures a continuing emphasis on improvement.
Through our Driftwood service, the PLA has been removing metal scrap from the tonnes of rubbish collected annually from the River for a number of years so it can be sent for recycling. Large timbers from piles, fenders and other structures in the River are sent to the charity Greenwich Mencap, which uses them as raw material for the furniture and other artefacts manufactured by its team of craftsmen.
Office paper and printer cartridges are recycled and office lighting is being replaced at the end of its life with more energy-efficient equipment, including movement sensors which automatically switch off lights in the common areas of buildings that are only lightly used at night and weekends. A steady move from CRT to LCD computer screens has reduced direct power consumption, with a consequent potential saving on air conditioning energy requirements too.
In partnership with other port representatives, the PLA has been actively involved in working with the Government to ensure that the economic and technical consequences of the Water Framework Directive are fully understood.
The PLA hosted a seminar for Government representatives, conservation professionals and port representatives to raise the profile of the potential conflicts between the Water Framework Directive and the Habitats Directive, particularly in relation to the importance of dredging and sediment management techniques in maintaining estuarine conservation sites, such as the designated European Marine Sites in the Thames estuary.
We look forward to continuing to play a full and active part in the Environment Agency’s deliberations on the Thames, its three River Basin Management Plans for the estuary, and the programmes of measures that will be brought forward.
Marine Bill
Close interest is being taken in the Government’s development of a draft Marine Bill and we have established contact with the officials to ensure that concerns within ports are fully taken into account when the draft provisions are brought forward later this year.
As a key regulator, the PLA will, through discussion with Government, seek to consolidate and built upon its high-profile position as the conservancy authority for the tidal Thames and its reputation in developing innovative and successful solutions in a time of increasing environmental awareness.
In accordance with the draft Maintenance Dredging Protocol agreed between Government and industry as a means of ensuring compliance with the Habitats Directive, the PLA has developed a draft Baseline Document. The document describes the history of dredging in the Port of London and focuses on the relationship between present-day dredging operations and the conservation sites.
The Baseline Document will be provided to the conservation agencies for review and, as a living document, will be updated as and when new dredging projects are proposed.
To date we have completed environmental baseline monitoring of our operational areas and a representative selection of routine dredging sites. The results of this monitoring are being reviewed with a view to establishing a series of environmental indicators.
A variety of help, including the PLA’s specialist ‘Driftwood’ craft, marine personnel, skips, rubbish baskets and waste disposal, was provided at 44 clean-up events organised by Thames 21 throughout 2005 and spread between Egypt Bay in the east and Richmond in the west.
In total, 396 tonnes of rubbish was removed from the River surface and foreshore and disposed of. Thames21 volunteers and local councils removed more rubbish from the canals, tributaries and foreshores that lead to the Thames. In addition to this, 42.5 tonnes of scrap from recovered moorings, cars, old boats and other river obstructions were sent for recycling.
Amongst some of the items recovered from the River in 2005 were a wheelchair, a pushchair, a bath, several concrete benches and two wheelbarrows, as well as 49 motorcycles, bicycles and scooters, nine cars and 153 supermarket trolleys.
Deborah Leach, the Chief Executive of Thames21, was invited to be part of the official delegation, sponsored by Defra, which visited Sydney on an Olympics fact -finding mission to investigate issues of waste and litter and measures for their prevention and containment.
TOSCA
The Thames Oil Spill Clearance Association (TOSCA) provides a round-the-clock instant response to any spillage incident likely to lead to pollution from oil or other hazardous and noxious substances.
Operated by the PLA, the service is supported by the oil industry and other operators within the Port and is equipped to provide Tier 1 (initial) response to an incident, with guaranteed arrival on site within 30 minutes judged to be highest risk.
TOSCA crews were called out 14 times in 2005, which included seven false alarms. Oil was found on the water on four occasions – this was mostly sheen and only on one occasion was the incident reportable.
An incident involving two diesel fuel storage tanks, owned by a passenger boat operator in Bermondsey, prompted a speedy response in early October. Some fuel was lost from one of the tanks, each holding approximately 25 tonnes of fuel, which were contained in a barge that sank at its moorings, along with two small workboats moored to the barge.
TOSCA oil spill response vessel ‘Recover’ was on the scene promptly, securing the area with absorbent floating booms. Other PLA vessels involved in subsequent operations, including salvage of the sunken vessels, included the Harbour Service patrol launches ‘Westbourne’ and ‘Wandsworth’, the salvage vessel ‘Crossness’, the ‘Driftwood III’ and the tug ‘Impulse’.
An immediate priority was to pump out the remaining oil from the sunken tanks, which was successfully completed in a joint operation by the PLA and the barge owners. In subsequent days, the barge and workboats were raised from the riverbed, whilst an adjacent berthing pontoon which also overturned was righted.
The location of the incident, not far from Tower Bridge, prompted considerable media interest on the day of the sinking and over subsequent days. The PLA worked closely with the Environment Agency and the London Fire Brigade throughout the incident.
In July 2005 the Secretary of State announced that he was “minded to” approve the London Gateway Port development project on the site of the former Shell Haven oil refinery site. Since then P&O Ports has been refining its project and the engineering that would need to follow a final positive decision, working in close technical co-operation with PLA experts to ensure that the project plan would meet our requirements and regulations.
Supported by Wessex Archaeology, the PLA has undertaken considerable work with P&O Ports and English Heritage in carrying out further investigation of wrecks and other sunken material detected on the riverbed.
All work is designed to comply with the Archaeological Mitigation Framework developed by P&O Ports as part of its Environmental Statement. Each site is being considered for its archaeological and historic interest and the PLA is developing a programme to ensure that the local and wider public are informed about any historic finds.
In anticipation of a positive decision by Ministers, periodic meetings have been held with P&O Ports and other regulators to agree the foundations necessary for the environmental consideration of P&O’s detailed dredging and construction methodologies.
Waste management and recycling company Cory Environmental won an award for the way in which it uses the River Thames.
The award, for traffic relocation and transport management, was presented to the company at the Corporation of London’s Liveable City Awards at the Mansion House.
The judges were impressed by Cory’s fully integrated and comprehensive environmental management system, which includes the
avoidance of 100,000 lorry movements each year within London by using the River for the transport of residential waste, the capture of methane gas to generate electricity and the restoration of landfill sites.