PLA Invests in Further MBES Technology for Surveying the Thames

The Port of London Authority (PLA) increases their Multi-Beam Echosounder (MBES) technology for hydrographic surveying of the Thames waterways with the purchase of a second R2Sonic 2024 MBES, supplied by Swathe Services.

The R2Sonic 2024 will be fitted to their newly converted hydrographic survey vessel Thame to support the range of survey tasks undertaken by the busy PLA Hydrographic Service. James Williams, Managing Director of Swathe Services, said: “The R2Sonic 2024 is fantastic MBES product for the PLA survey operations, and we’re delighted they added a second one. R2Sonic offers more, original value-added features in their MBES products than other manufacturers and I’m looking forward to seeing it in action.”

John Dillon-Leetch is the Port Hydrographer at PLA. He says: “The PLA Hydrographic Service undertakes regular surveys of all the main channels on the busy waterways of the Thames as well as providing commercial services specializing in high-resolution marine infrastructure surveys for which the 700KHZ option on the 2024 has proven to be a key differentiator. – The R22024 we purchased for our vessel S/V Maplin has delivered excellent results over the past two years, and again in the trials we undertook for the new system, came out as the favored option for the S/V Thame. The second R2Sonic 2024 will increase our capacity and efficiencies to ensure the provision of accurate safety of navigation information as well as delivering innovative commercial services to all our customers going forward.”

As well as survey operations by the PLA, the Thame and its systems are heading to the industry event, Ocean Business on 9-11th April at Southampton, UK, where R2SONIC will conduct daily MBES demonstrations.

R2Sonic is a leading innovator of Multi-Beam Echo-Sounders (MBES) for use in the shallow and medium water Hydrographic Survey industries.

The PLA Thame survey vessel. Initially built in 2012 by South Boats Special Projects, the vessel was bought by the PLA in 2017, converted for hydrographic use and renamed Thame.

Thame has a LOA of 14.2 meters, beam of 5.3 meters, draught of 0.8 meters and a lightship displacement of 14 tons. Powered by twin Caterpillar C9 ACERT 510mhp diesel engines, coupled to Hamilton HJ364 water jet which make the vessel highly maneuverable and suited for surveying on the busy waterways of the Thames.

See PLA film on the naming of the Thame here.

The surveying suite installed on the vessel includes a high resolution Multibeam Echosounder System, vessel-based LiDAR, A-Frame and winches to support the range of survey tasks undertaken by the busy PLA Hydrographic Service, including support of safety of navigation charting, dredge support, marine asset inspections, geophysical and geotechnical investigations both for the PLA and its commercial clients.