Cruise ship emissions in Tower Hamlets monitored by £80k sensors

New sensors costing a total of £80,000 are going to monitor the emissions from cruise ships docking across the Thames in Greenwich.

The location of the cruise ship monitoring stations. Three of the sensors are located on the north side of the Thames on the Isle of Dogs. Picture: Port of London Authority. - Credit: PLA

The eight sensors are going to be placed around the mooring, three of them on the Isle of Dogs, to record data 24-hours-a-day. The results will be publicly available online.

The Port of London Authority paid for the new devices as part of a partnership with the air quality campaign Breathe London and Tower Hamlets and Greenwich councils.

"The data these monitors collect will give us a comprehensive understanding of the impact that the cruise ships have on air quality when they are in town," said PLA chief executive Robin Mortimer.

"It's crucial to have this information, so that we can address the concerns that we know are very strongly held by local residents."

The monitors are being put in as part of the PLA's air quality strategy. Published in 2018, it sets a 25-year target for ship emissions while increasing passenger and freight use on the water.

One of the ways set-put to do this is by putting technology into older boats and ships to bring down what comes out their exhausts.