The Port of London last year was confirmed as the largest port in the UK by volumes handled, after a break of over two decades.

The port on the River Thames and estuary has installed a state-of-the-art, air traffic control based communication technology system to assist the Port of London Authority (PLA). This is to improve navigational safety of visiting vessels on the tidal river Thames.

A modernisation programme, focused on maintaining safety on an increasingly busy river, has seen the installation of cutting-edge equipment at the PLA’s navigational control centres in Woolwich and Gravesend.

(Upriver of Gravesend at neighbouring Northfleet is where Afloat tracked Arklow Castle to be having departed Dublin Port on the final day of last year. At that stage the port of call was unknown. The ship has since crossed the North Sea again and is currently at Sluiskil in the Netherlands).

The new communication technology at the PLA, is used widely at airports around the world and was developed by Rohde & Schwarz, which has also been applied by one other major world port, Hong Kong. (See related, OOCL shipowner story at Felixstowe, Britain's biggest 'box-boat' port). 

It will help future proof the PLA’s ability to oversee the safety of vessels on the river, from Teddington to the North Sea.

Bob Baker, the PLA’s chief harbour master, said: “Applying this innovative communications system in a marine context provides us with the resilience and reliability we need to keep the river safe for all of its users.