By John Sharp

“The possibilities are almost endless, having this this fantastic motorway that sits in the middle of the river that we can utilise day and night.” Keith Doe, logistics director at Thames Clippers, is excited about the potential for expanding river freight operations in London’s historic central waterway. He’s not just excited about the commercial opportunity, but the chance to draw freight transport away from London’s roads, reducing their impact on the environment and easing urban congestion.

“We estimate we can get 20 large vehicles off the road per trip, with up four trips per day initially,” he adds.

Speed and reliability

Initially operating between Dartford in Kent and Tower Bridge Quay in central London, the Thames Clippers Logistics project is part-funded by the ZEVI (Zero Emissions Vessels and Infrastructure) initiative, set up by Innovate UK and the DfT. The first vessel in the fleet will be ‘Lightning’, a 100% electric catamaran, currently being prepared for launch.

“We’re just getting the final bits put together before Lightning makes its way to Tower Bridge Quay,” says Doe. “It has two mega batteries, which are recharged at each end of the journey. The charging point at Tower Bridge can charge the vessel in about 45 minutes and the vessel has the capacity to be working seven days a week.”

While Lightning will travel at speeds of up to 20 knots, it’s not just the speed of river transport, but its reliability that can be a major bonus. With the annual Tom Tom Traffic Index naming London as the world’s slowest capital city for driving and roads proving unpredictable in terms of scheduling delivery chains, fast river freight has a big advantage.

“We can make that middle mile from your depot to the delivery area as efficient as possible – from Dartford into central London in under an hour,” explains Doe. “We don’t get any traffic issues, we operate with no delays regardless of the tidal state, and we can work in all weather conditions. Companies can then accurately schedule onward operations, making it very efficient from a fleet point of view.”

Doe believes river freight can also compete in terms of cost when compared to road or rail. While he’s hopeful of obtaining mode switch incentive grants from government, Thames Clippers are confident that costs will also drop as their services scale up in the coming years.

“We’re working with partners and we’ve managed to get to parity on their existing costs,” says Doe. “Mile for mile, item for item, we believe we can achieve what they want. And the more volume for us, of course, the easier it is for us to reduce our costs and offer more long-term savings.”

The future of Thames travel

So just what’s the potential for expanding high-speed river freight operations on the Thames? “We’re expecting this to be a significant multi-vessel operation in the future,” says Doe, “operating to different wharves down the river and collecting from different locations.”

He also points to the potential offered by the imminent move of Billingsgate and Smithfield markets to Albert Island in East London, and the continuing development of piers and new residential and business complexes along both sides of the river:

“They’re all going to have freight access and opportunities there, so we can actually utilise those for the freight network as well as for passengers. There’s a big drive to open up the river for this service.”

• To find out more about Thames Clippers Logistics, click here.

• For more information about the ZEVI project, click here.