Thames Freeport - Britain's Trading Future

[ 27 ] The latest logistics trial on the Thames is an innovative partnership between CEVA Logistics and Livett’s Launches Ltd, delivering key, non-perishable equipment to operating theatres at Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. The daily service carries the equipment 20 miles by river from Dartford in Kent to Butler’s Wharf, in the shadow of Tower Bridge, where the short final journey to the hospital is completed by electric cargo bikes. “It’s a great example of the river’s potential as a green superhighway, reducing carbon emissions and air pollution in the capital,” says PLA director of planning & environment, James Trimmer. “It also demonstrates how we provide multi-layered support to operators, from concept to physical delivery and realisation of trials on the river.” If the proof-of-concept pilot is successful, the service will operate on a larger scale, removing trucks from the capital’s roads, while providing a reliable delivery route into London during the day. The Trust’s three delivery trucks currently travel around 1,500 miles per week. For each truck removed from the road, approximately 708kg of CO 2 could be saved every week. The latest trial follows hot on the heels of DHL’s advance, with Uber Boat by Thames Clippers, in fast-tracking parcels from Wandsworth to Bankside by river, for onward distribution by electric vehicles. “The use of the river for more bulky building materials and aggregates for housing and infrastructure projects is well established; the Thames is by far the largest carrier of inland waterways freight in the UK. The potential for the emerging use of the river for ‘just in time’ logistics, last-mile deliveries and for retailers is a massive untapped opportunity.” We at the PLA are working with partners to realise more opportunities for connecting deepsea port and capital city. The planned relocation by 2026 of Smithfield, Billingsgate and New Spitalfields markets to a riverside site in Barking is expected to be a step towards this. “We’re working with the City of London Corporation to move both imports and exports to this new facility onto the river and away from the congested road network,” concludes James Trimmer. Transforming urban logistics Barges have been key to delivering the Tideway scheme DHL parcel operation into Bankside Pier is part of a growing move to light freight on the river