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Hydrographic Surveying at

The Port of London

John Dillon-Leetch, Port of London Authority

Objectives

• Overview of Port of London.

• Hydrographic Department

• Function

• Resources

• Products

• Ongoing and Future Developments

• Career Prospects

• UCL/PLA MSc

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Harwich

Ramsgate

Putney

Gravesend

Central

LondonTeddington

95 miles: Teddington to the outer Estuary

PLA Jurisdiction

Port of London• The statutory harbour authority for the Port of

London• Self funding, Trust Port• Top 3 UK Ports• Statutory duties along 95 miles of the tidal

Thames include:– Facilitating navigational safety – Managing/protecting aspects of the environment– Promoting use of the Thames 70 operational berths

• 50 million T p.a. 30,000 movements• Co-ordinating the operation of the Port

• Not a cargo handler

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Main activities on the river

Teddington to Putney

Putney to

Thames BarrierThames Barrier

to Estuary

London Gateway

• £1.5 billion project

• Six Berths• 3.5 million TEU • Nearly 2 miles of quay

• Container port• Integrated business park

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PLA Hydrographic Department

• 6 surveyors, Oceanographer, GIS Manager, Tidal

Technician.

– Experience from Port , Offshore Survey, and Merchant Marine

Sectors.

– Support from Navigation Engineering, Civil Engineering, Marine

Services.

• Produce 400 surveys per year (25% under contract)

• Multibeam Capability since 2004

– National and International Recognition in the development of

MBES for High Resolution surveys

YANTLET

VERIFIER

BRENT

Continue

Galloper

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New MBES Vessel Galloper

• Transportable by trailer – project or chartered work further from base.

• High Speed (28 knots) – Shallow Draft• Moonpool for deployment allows flexibility of

equipment deployment (MBES/ADCP)

Multibeam Technology

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Multibeam Technology

The Hydrographic Task• Conservancy

• Navigation

• Tidal monitoring

• Wreck monitoring

• Incident response

• Dredging support

• Report investigation

• River Licensing support

• Recoverable work

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Data Clients

• Harbour Masters ,Berth Owners & Mariners• Environmentalists• Geologists• Archaeologists• Salvors / Divers• Police/ Security• Engineers – Hydrodynamic & Civil

Traditional Chart Products – Main Survey

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S57 Chart production (Safety contours)

Shoaling due to redistributed dredge spoil around approach and close to and inside channel

Dredged Entrance showing up to 1.5m deeper than previous survey.

Stable depths with general movement of waves up/down stream.

Riverbed/ Dynamics

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Berth Survey – High Resolution .

System can measure depths beneath structures & vessels

Scour

Visualisation Capability

•Controlling Depths•Slope Stability•Speed of survey 5 times faster than SBES resulting in little or no berth downtime

Obstruction Detection XL-XS

• Pre and Post works survey – terms of specification• Ensuring berth safe for vessels

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Structure Monitoring-Scour Damage

Plan View Showing Undercutting

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Pipeline Scour

Bridge Pier Monitoring

• Baseline Assessment

• Post Works Clearance

• Inspection

• Scour Monitoring

• Bed Protection Assessment & Volume calculations

• Reporting

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Amalgamation with other data sources.

• Proves system & makes data interpretation easier for non-surveying client.

• Reduced re-work

Multibeam data knitted to surface photography

Wall Surveys

Fledermaus 3D Scene

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New Developments: Integration of Terrestrial Laser systems?

• Laser Scanning Schematic

Riegl Laser mobilised to PLA survey vessel Galloper (Aug ’08)

Laser Data Examples

• Westminster Area Overview

Savoy Pier Scan Imagery

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MSc in Hydrographic SurveyingUCL and the PLA

• Unique collaboration between an academic institution and industry.

• Recognised by IHO/FIG/ICA as a Category A course.

• Recognised by the RICS.

• Covers ports, harbours, offshore, coastal…

UCL PLA

Geodesy, datums, coordinate reference systems (including VORF, etc).

GPS and other navigation systems

Statistics, data analysis, least squares processing.

GIS, digital mapping and charting.

Coastal engineering.

Professional practice.

Fully equipped vessels, with multibeam, sidescan, etc.

Bathymetric surveying and charting.

Offshore surveying, with input from Sonardyne, Fugro and Netsurvey.

Collaboration on practical field work and individual student projects

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Student projects – examples

• Accuracy of structural underwater multibeam

• Combination of multibeam and laser scanning for tunnel surveys

• Future uses of new GNSS in hydrographic surveying

• Comparison of tide gauge data and altimetry

• Correlations between bathymetry and wave parameters

CONCLUSIONS

• Technology only as good as the surveyor acquiring & processing the data – not push button systems

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Any Questions?

•At Work