Live Tides
NOTICES TO MARINERS
Charts & Surveys
Incident reporting
Life-threatening emergencies on the river:
Call 999 and ask for the Coastguard
For near miss, safety observations and incident reporting click below
Harbour Masters
Our Chief Harbour Master's department is responsible for overseeing navigational safety on the tidal Thames
The Harbour Masters are responsible for ensuring compliance with the Port Marine Safety Code.
The team oversees the safety of navigation for all mariners in the Port of London, enforcing the regulations and issuing guidance. They lead on port security and emergency and resilience planning for the PLA.
The HM team is also responsible for Richmond Lock & Weir, the Harbour Service and Pilot Cutter crew and operations and marine incident investigations.
Our senior team
James has overall responsibility for navigational safety on the tidal Thames. The CHM’s team includes Harbour Masters, Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) & Safety Management Systems (SMS), Pilotage including all PLA Pilots, Richmond Lock & Weir, the Pilot Cutter and the Harbour Patrol launches.
Cathryn has overall management of the Harbour Master team. She leads on port security and resilience, emergency management and is Chair of the Thames Port Security Authority and Thames Resilience Panel.
Lyn works under Cathryn, helping on external relations with stakeholders, supports on emergency management, port security, new business and infrastructure projects. She focuses on the lower district of the Port of London.
Adam works under Cathryn, helping on external relations with stakeholders, emergency management, port security, new business and infrastructure projects. He focuses on the upper district of the Port of London.
Key Harbour Master roles
Vessel Traffic Services
Our VTS team manages the safe navigation of all vessels on the tidal Thames 24 hours a day.
Richmond Lock & Weir
Staffed by a dedicated team 24/7, Richmond Lock & Weir is the base for the Upper River Harbour Service patrols between Putney and Teddington Lock.
Key Harbour Master roles
Key Harbour Master roles
Harbour Service Launches
The PLA afloat team maintains an active presence on the tideway with regular patrols by harbour launches between Southend and Putney (the "Lower" and "Middle" PLA districts). Special events and large ships requiring escort are also provided for by these vessels.
The area between Putney and Teddington (the "Upper District") is also patrolled daily, using two special launches for river patrol, designed to serve the leisure community. Reserve launches are maintained to be available at short notice for special duties such as local traffic control and other duties.
Thames Vision 2050
We will create the UK’s leading port, central to the nation’s economy, with Net Zero emissions
A clean river, free of pollution and rubbish, supporting more sport, passengers and freight. A resilient Estuary, adapting to climate change and richer in wildlife. A more diverse Thames, providing jobs, learning and enjoyment to the whole community, and always, everyone, staying safe.
