‘Green highway’ to the rescue in London: 3

On Regents Canal

Many Londoners now commute by water and visitors use the river and canal waterbus services revived in 1997 when Secretary of State for Transport John Prescott  launched Thames 2000. This £21-million project regenerated the River Thames public transport boat services and piers on the river.

Ken Livingstone’s Transport Strategy for London 2005 stated that: “The safe use of the Thames for passenger and freight services should be developed. . . Use of London’s other navigable waterways for freight . . . will be encouraged The first waterbus service was established by British waterways and there are now waterbuses/taxis in 21 other British  towns and cities.

In an undated article the Port of London Authority said that 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.

In 2019: Powerday announced a partnership with IRecycle: thousands of tons of waste mixed recyclables, generated by the booming houseboat population, are now being carried by barge instead of road-going refuse trucks, collected by IRecycle’s barge from Camden Market in north London and carried to Powerday’s Material Recycling Facility at Old Oak Sidings, Willesden Junction.

New piers planned for London’s river buses are to be built by developers Ballymore and Oxley to serve Royal Wharf residents who, as they say, ‘will be able to ‘hop on the Thames Clipper to Canary Wharf’. There are plans for a new riverboat pier on the Greenwich Peninsula; a second pier could be built when the housing development on the site of Morden Wharf has been completed and there are also plans for new piers at Charlton (as part of the recently approved masterplan), Barking, Thamesmead and Erith.

International courier’s ‘go green’ waterway delivery strategy

Last year, DHL Express, which provides international courier, parcel, and express mail services, ran a pilot project, using delivery barges on the Thames, as part of its “go green” strategy. It was successful and the DHL boat on River Thames now regularly replaces transfers via trucks, using a daily riverboat freight service to transport small packages into central London for last mile delivery by bike. The new river freight route through London, operated by Thames Clippers Logistics, is part of DHL’s commitment to reduce congestion.

In March, Kathy Bailes, writing in the Isle of Thanet News, reported that the Port of London Authority (PLA) has confirmed that talks are underway with owners RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP) over the possibility of moving freight landed at Manston airport (completion in 2023) on a route from Ramsgate Port and up the River Thames. The Loadstar reported that in September Tony Freudmann, director of Manston, was talking to the Port of London Authority to move goods by water from Ramsgate and then up the Thames to central London, “a clean solution to cut out lorries”.

Above: Tideway: keeping lorries off London roads & producing 90% less CO2 by using water transport.

Companies such as GPS Marine Contractors Ltd are recruiting people to work on the fleet of river tugs used on the Thames Tideway project, offering good conditions and excellent rates of pay. Various ranks are needed: masters, mates, engineers and deck hands. The company is also looking to recruit its 3rd group of apprentices.

Environmental and employment prospects are brighter on the green highway.

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International courier’s ‘go green’ waterway delivery strategy

DHL Express, which provides international courier, parcel, and express mail services, is targeting the use of delivery barges on the Thames this year, as part of its “go green” strategy.

Freight takes up almost one-third of all morning rush hour road traffic in the capital – vans responsible for carrying about 80%. A study by Transport for London (TfL) says that vans are the only motorised form of transport forecast to grow in London, which will make an already untenable situation worse. Safety is one of the main reasons for improving London’s freight transport, with HGVs involved in more than 70% of deaths involving cyclists.

Chief executive John Pearson confirmed to The Loadstar that the company’s UK division was working on a scheme similar to that in Amsterdam (pictured below) where DHL Express transports parcels along the canals of Amsterdam and uses its electric cycles for the ‘last mile’. While delivery vans are struggling through the city’s narrow streets, the DHL boat just ‘goes with the flow’.

This solution is not only more environmentally friendly, but – all things considered – is much more efficient as well.

Mr Pearson said, “Over the past three or four months, Paul Hampson, UK operations director and the team have been moving stuff up and down the Thames. From there the packages would be put onto bikes to get to their final destination in the wider city.” The pilot programme with the barges is also hoping to use its electric ‘cubicycle’ – a customized cargo bicycle which can carry a container with a load of up to 125 kg.

A DHL spokesperson said, “Providing the pilot goes successfully, we are targeting roll-out of the barge system at some point in 2019. We would be using it to move documents and small packages along the main body of the Thames but at the moment are not considering using the canals.”

London mayor Sadiq Khan wants to see about 55% of all project materials carried by river, as well as an overall increase in the amount of freight carried this way. City government efforts are reaping some rewards, with TfL noting that a number of barge trials had been undertaken to increase load-bearing from 800 tonnes to 1,500 tonnes. TfL also uses its influence to indicate transport modes for the projects it is involved in building.

Use of the Thames as a working river is gaining traction once again. TfL’s freight and fleet project manager, Peter Binham, said: “More than 7m tonnes of cargo are being moved by barge in the development of the Tideway sewerage system. This presents the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the Thames’s capacity for use as a freight route.”

 

 

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