Skip to main content

Thames Vision launched

The Port of London Authority (PLA) recently launched the Thames Vision, a framework for developing greater use of the River Thames over the next twenty years. The Thames is already the UK’s busiest waterway for passengers and freight, home to the UK’s second biggest port and a hub for tourism, recreation and sport. Developed by the PLA and river stakeholders over the last 18 months, the Vision sets out six goals for increased river use. They include the busiest ever Port of London, more goods being
July 5, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The Port of London Authority (PLA) recently launched the Thames Vision, a framework for developing greater use of the River Thames over the next twenty years.

The Thames is already the UK’s busiest waterway for passengers and freight, home to the UK’s second biggest port and a hub for tourism, recreation and sport.  

Developed by the PLA and river stakeholders over the last 18 months, the Vision sets out six goals for increased river use.  They include the busiest ever Port of London, more goods being moved by river, double the number of passenger trips and greater participation in sport and recreation.

Actions already underway include: recruitment of additional PLA pilots to meet growing customer demand; the Thames Skills Academy taking on its first group of students; work on Thames Tideway Tunnel starting in earnest; and a study into the levels of participation in sports on the river and its banks.

The Thames Vision Goals include: the busiest ever Port of London, handling 60 to 80 million tonnes of cargo a year; over four million tonnes of goods and materials to be carried by water every year – taking over 400,000 lorry trips off the region’s roads; double the number of people travelling by river – reaching 20 million commuter and tourist trips every year; and greater participation in sport and recreation on and alongside the water.

Related Content

  • ACE report: private sector and user-pay for English roads
    May 16, 2018
    It’s one minute to midnight for funding England’s roads, according to a timely new report - and the clock’s big hand is pointing to some form of user-pay solution, reports David Arminas. Is there any way out of future user-pay funding for England’s highway infrastructure? The answer is a resounding ‘no’, according to the recently-published report Funding Roads for the Future. The 25-page document by the London-based Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) calls for a radical rethink about how to
  • UK government to invest in autonomous cars, low emission vehicles
    November 24, 2016
    Presenting his Autumn Statement, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced investment in transportation, including £390 million for future transport and a major new investment in the UK transport infrastructure. The £390 million investment in future technology includes: investment in testing infrastructure for driverless cars; provision of at least 550 new electric and hydrogen buses, reduce the emissions of 1,500 existing buses and support taxis to become zero emission; installation of more charging points fo
  • Secretary Foxx sends six-year transportation bill to Congress
    March 31, 2015
    Over the past year, US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has visited more than 100 communities and heard one common story about crumbling infrastructure and dwindling resources to fix it with. Foxx has now sent to Congress his solution to this problem: a long-term transportation bill that provides funding growth and certainty so that state and local governments can get back in the business of building things again. The Grow America Act reflects President Obama’s vision for a six-year, US$478 billion
  • Dawning of Midnight eVTOL for Los Angeles
    August 26, 2024
    Archer Aviation's planned network includes vertiports at LAX, Orange County & Santa Monica