With Thames passenger and freight statistics at record levels, the Port of London Authority (PLA) officially introduced its £7 million multi-purpose river maintenance vessel, London Titan, in a ceremony held yesterday at Tower Pier.
Officially named by Thurrock MP, Jackie Doyle-Price, London Titan will keep the river clear of obstructions and channels clearly marked for all to use.
Titan has been specially built to be capable of working from Richmond in west London all the way out into the Thames estuary.
The PLA’s biggest single investment in over 20 years, London Titan was designed by naval architects MacDuff Ship Design, working with PLA marine engineers, masters and crews. She was built at Manor Marine’s shipyard in Portland, Dorset to Lloyd’s Register class.
She is squat and shallow enough to negotiate bridges as far upriver as Richmond, and robust enough to operate in the outer estuary.
Titan’s duties include: mooring maintenance, laying and recovering navigation buoys, hauling wreckage from the riverbed, supporting diving and civil engineering operations and plough dredging operations.
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