TCS News: 3 March 2008

Princes Channel Dredging

The Port of London Authority (PLA) has completed dredging the Princes Channel to eight metres. This provides a shorter, straighter, simpler Southern approach to Tilbury. The Princes Channel is 10 km long and 300 metres wide and compared to the existing approach via the Sunk can potentially save up to 70 nautical miles or at least 4 hours steaming time per round trip.

It has been estimated that there are around 2,000 vessels each year that could switch to the Princes Channel. If they all switched they would collectively save more than a month at sea, £185,000-worth of fuel, and 2,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year in addition to the significant savings on pilotage costs.

With the new channel, vessels that previously used the Northern approach via the Sunk may now consider using the NE Spit Pilot Station. This will not only mean significantly less steaming time and lower pilotage costs but also the NE Spit tends to be less susceptible to the weather.

The Princes Channel has been the PLA’s biggest dredging project for 40 years. It involved the removal of nearly one and a half million tonnes of seabed.