The Port of London Authority is now operating a new hydrographic survey vessel, Verifier, which uses GPS and side-scan sonar to locate sea-bed obstructions in the Thames Estuary.

This helped the PLA open up the Fisherman’s Gat channel which has been a boon for yachts making cross Estuary routes from Essex and Suffolk to the Kent or French coasts.

The PLA annual report also details the work being carried out to replace analogue links with a digital transmission network to their 14 remote radar installations with which they monitor all shipping movements.