PLA chair puts emphasis on the environment

Reflecting on the past year, he told guests at the PLA’s annual reception onboard the Silver Sturgeon: “We have launched the Clean Thames Manifesto and were able to persuade three water companies, which discharge through 118 points in the river, that they will bring forward their targets for a clean river ten years ahead of the government target.

“We have also published our Net Zero River Plan [a three-year action plan for 2024-2027] for 2040.”

During 2023, the PLA also launched its masterplan for the river, “to get a really coherent view of how we develop the river, particularly downstream”, said Cox.

He also described the PLA’s work with the Company of Watermen and Lightermen and other parties to focus on training and career-long learning, and his pride in the expansion of apprenticeships on the river.

In 2024, the PLA will invest in new pilot cutters, an upgrade of the pilots’ simulator, the replacement of its Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) equipment and the replacement of 17 radar stations along the river, among other projects.

A particular highlight in 2023 was the launch of the UCL Tamesis, a remote-control survey vessel ‘packed with technology’. Formally named by the Maritime Minister, Baroness Vere, the vessel is jointly operated by the PLA and the University of London (UCL). It is the first fully electric, remotely operated survey vessel in a UK port.

The PLA is also working with SEA-KIT, which won government funding to build the world’s first hydrogen-fuelled remote surveying vessel (RSV), to be operated on the Thames.

Cox emphasised the unique benefits of the PLA’s Trust Port status, noting: “We have no shareholders to bail us out, no government to bail us out. We have to succeed – it is down to us. But also, we have no shareholders that we have to pay dividends to. We invest everything we make into the port.”