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Port of London Authority appoints new chief harbour master

Port of London Authority appoints new chief harbour master
Bob Baker has been appointed to succeed outgoing chief harbour master David Phillips at the Port of London Authority (PLA), after a 14-year stint in the same capacity at Forth Ports. 

Phillips is retiring from the PLA in April after nine years’ service during "a unique period at the PLA,” commented PLA chief executive Robin Mortimer. “He is the only chief harbour master to call the start of a 1,000 vessel flotilla down the Thames, overseeing the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee River Pageant in 2012. At the same time, his tenure also saw the arrival of ultra large container ships on the river too.”

Baker, due to join PLA on 1 May, went to sea between 1975 and 1991 before coming ashore to work at the Port of Tilbury, latterly as gm, conventional operations and harbour master. He has been chief harbour master at Forth Ports, which acquired Port of Tilbury, and a director of Forth Estuary Towage since 2001.

“Our chief harbour master oversees a team looking after the most diverse and high profile waterway in the UK,” continued Mortimer, and will "draw on Bob’s Port Marine Safety Code and other experience as we make sure that the Thames is a safe and commercially attractive river.”

TAGS: Ports