These are the latest shots of London Titan, showing the final stages of the vessel's construction. She is due to be launched in the New Year. Work started almost two years ago on the £7 million boat, with a design challenge of being able to work along the 95 miles of the tidal Thames for which the PLA is responsible. The vessel needed to be squat and shallow enough to negotiate bridges as far upriver

as Richmond, and robust enoughto
operate in the outer estuary. London
Titan will play an important role keeping
the river clear of obstructions, marked and safe for anyone to use – from HMS Illustrious to Thames Clippers, cruise ships to rowing boats.

Early December saw the first of three major project cargo moves on the river for Stolthaven, with tanks being moved from Belgium by sea to their Dagenham bulk liquid storage terminal, where a major investment and expansion is under way.

Stolthaven acquired the terminal and its Thunderer Jetty, which handles a range of bulk liquids, including fuels, chemicals, agricultural and food products, in 2012. Now, after months of planning, it is the process of effectively rebuilding more than half the site with older tanks being decommissioned and 16 new tanks now being delivered.

The new tanks are being shipped to Dagenham in three tows. The largest four tanks came first in on a single 90 metre long pontoon in early December.

The unusual towage operation was facilitated, assessed and approved by the PLA’s Lower District harbour master’s team, working with Stolthaven, their towage contractors, PLA pilots and Vessel Traffic Services (Port Control). PLA pilots navigated the vessel and pontoon throughout its passage on the Thames. Specialised vessel Sea Golf towed the pontoon across from Belgium and pusher tug Riga manoeuvred the pontoon alongside the berth from a layby berth at Erith. The tanks were lifted off the pontoon using the biggest mobile crane in Europe.

Once this first phase of work is completed, the terminal will have up to 48,000 cubic metres of brand new storage capacity with further expansion and refurbishment projects planned.