02.10.2013

Lloyd's List Special Award for PLA

The Port of London Authority(PLA) received a Special Award at last night’s Lloyd’s List Global Awards (1 October, 2013) for its work in overseeing the planning and safe delivery of last summer’s Queen’s Diamond Jubilee river pageant on the Thames.

PLA chief harbour master, David Phillips, received the award on the PLA’s behalf. He said:

“Last year’s pageant was the culmination of two years’ work by staff across the PLA, working with the Thames Diamond Jubilee Foundation, the Thames river community, the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, RNLI and many others. It’s fantastic to have acknowledgement of the scale of the undertaking, which saw 1,000 vessels on the river, carrying some 20,000 people and over a million people lining the banks of the river.

“To get that many vessels safely mustered, through the pageant and dispersed was a major achievement involving over 100 PLA staff working afloat, with many more in our control centre, plus technical and other support staff assisting as needed. At the same time, our teams also continued overseeing operations in Britain's second busiest port.

“It was truly a team effort, a team success and this award goes back to our Gravesend base with great pride.” 

Lloyd's List is the leading daily newspaper for the maritime industry covering all sectors of the shipping world including tankers, containers, ports and dry bulk.