Port of London Authority Adds New MBES from Swathe Services

The Port of London Authority (PLA) has added the second Multi-Beam Echosounder (MBES) system for hydrographic surveying to its equipment fleet.

The company purchased the second R2Sonic 2024 MBES from Swathe Services.

The R2Sonic 2024 will be fitted to its 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, the Port Hydrographer at PLA, added: “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 favoured 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.”