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
Recreational Users Guide
This easy-to-use guide is a two-sided map of the River Thames highlighting key points of interest and regulations for leisure users.
Pilot stations, boarding and landing areas
Commercial diving
Diving contractors intending to undertake any diving activity in the Tidal Thames must first obtain permission of the appropriate Harbour Master
To obtain permission, the diving supervisor is required to fill in and submit the diving permit to work form, together with copies of documents stated in the checklist.
The permit requires at least 2 working days.
Send the form and relevant documents to the Harbour Master:
Harbour Master (office hours, Monday to Friday 09:00 – 17:00)
[email protected]
01474 562 200
For urgent out of hours diving operations, contact London VTS
Tips on required documents
Submitted documents must be current. There is no need to resubmit previous documents that remain current, unless requested.
Project plan – should include, but is not limited to:
- Location, date and time of planned works
- Diving team members’ names
- Risk assessment, covering the task to be undertaken
- Emergency procedure
- Certificates of Competence must be approved by the Health and Safety Executive. Other Certificates, i.e. issued by BSAC (British Sub Aqua Club) or PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) are not acceptable.
Cookies policy
The Port of London Authority respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data.
Our privacy policy will inform you as to how we look after your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you. The Port of London Authority abides by the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulations.
This web site uses "Google Analytics" for the collection of anonymous statistical information about users of the site.
Telephone calls, VHF radio traffic and CCTV/radar images may be recorded in the Vessel Traffic Service Centres at Gravesend and Woolwich.
Our full privacy notice is available at this link.
'Cookies'
We make use of cookies to gather valuable information about how users move around the site. This enables us to understand how the site is used and to make improvements. The information we gather by use of cookies does not include personally identifying information.
Three of the cookies we use are essential for parts of the site to operate and will have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but please note that parts of the site may not work.
Essential site cookies:
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These cookies are essential to maintain your session throughout your visit to this site.
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These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited.
Click here for an overview of privacy at Google.
Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
Privacy policy
Our privacy policy will inform you as to how we look after your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.
Water density readings
The tables below show observed water density readings held by the Port of London Authority (PLA) and are provided to serve as a guide only for water densities that may be encountered on the Thames.
The PLA accepts no responsibility as to their accuracy.
Density measurements vary temporally throughout the day and year and are significantly affected by local variations in salinity and temperature.
It is recommended that for density values to be used for draft or freshwater allowance calculations, that in situ measurements taken at the location of the vessel or terminal.
Thames bridge heights
Thames Bridge Clearances
Clearance Heights identified in BOLD refer to the main navigational arch.
* Refers to headway above maintained water level.
** Refers to minimum clearance to bottom of cable car gondolas, when loaded and at the bottom of the catenary.
Arches are numbered from the north shore to south shore.
Further information on all the bridges can be found in the PLA "Mariners' Guide to Bridges on the Tidal Thames".
Headway Boards
Headway boards are provided at Hammersmith. Click here for details.
Bow Creek Bridge Clearances
Minimum Headway of NAVIGABLE ARCH in METRES above:
Deptford Creek Bridges Clearances
Minimum Headway of NAVIGABLE ARCH in METRES above:
