PLA invests for the future

In the past 18 months, Bennett’s Barges, GPS Marine, S Walsh and Thames Shipping have collectively invested more than £15m in their fleets.

GPS Marine, which has been moving spoil, concrete, aggregates and tunnel lining segments on the Thames and Medway, says business has developed significantly over recent years “as construction companies and developers have started to understand that river transport is viable, cost effective, sustainable and reliable”.

“Planners too are starting to understand that major projects do not necessarily have to have the inevitable consequence of inflicting inconvenience and traffic chaos on people living and working in the environs of major construction sites because the water transport option can readily dramatically reduce HGV movements to and from sites,” said Peter Lawson, business development manager earlier this year.

“The limiting factors on developing this exciting, environmentally friendly and sustainable mode of transport are imagination, early commitment to river use by planners and developers, training of staff and a lack of infrastructure on the rivers.”

The PLA’s Jim Trimmer says: “We are looking at millions of extra tonnes over the next ten years.”
The picture looks rosy in terms of volumes and future demand, and safeguarding is proving a strong policy for protecting the infrastructure – now there is a major push for skills and training.

But the question kept coming up: where are the people and how are they going to be trained? In response, the Thames Training Alliance (TTA) was set up by employers on the river, the Company of Watermen and Lightermen and the PLA. The TTA is looking to raise the standard of maritime skills training for those in charge of, navigating and crewing vessels, including tugs, barges and passenger boats, on the Thames.