PLA Galleries

Just before dawn on the morning of Sunday, 19 October the container ship, Edith Maersk berthed at London Gateway.

The first annual Shornmead Chase, for traditional Thames cutters, took place in Gravesend Reach on Thursday, 16 October.

On 5 to 9 September 2014, Greenwich hosted the largest Tall Ships event on the Thames in 25 years. There were a total of 51 tall ships on the river, with the largest vessel being the Dar Mlodziezy.

On 12 July 2014, after a 40,000 mile global ocean odyssey the yachts in the Clipper Race fleet returned to where the adventure began last September: Tower Bridge, London. This photo gallery records their trip up river, shepherded on its final few miles into central London by a PLA launch on local traffic control duties.

Lambeth is part of a fleet of four purpose-built harbour patrol vessels used in the middle and lower districts of the tidal Thames, between Putney Bridge and the North Sea.

Continuous monitoring of the river and estuary are essential to the safe navigation of the Thames.

With the outbreak of the war on 2nd September 1939 the Royal Navy established guard ships, batteries were manned on both banks of the lower river and in the middle of the reaches in the dock and, in industrial areas, barrage balloons were inflated. Everyone was aware that at some point the Thames would become a target. Passive defences in the Port were ready with stringent security measures in place enforced by the Authority’s own police at the docks and by the Thames Division of the Metropolitan Police in the river.

Our fleet doesn't just consist of boats! Take a look at some of the other vehicles the Port of London Authority have on the roads.