14 October 2026
This month saw the first passenger vessel return to Sunbury Dry Dock since the facility’s closure more than five years ago.
The Caversham Princess (pictured below), owned by British Marine member, Thames Rivercruise, has just undergone its out-of-water survey at the dry dock thanks to the Environment Agency’s agreement to reopen the dry dock under a lease arrangement with British Marine member, R8 Marine. This new arrangement follows a persistent campaign, led British Marine and supported by its members and local MPs, to reopen Sunbury Dry Dock since its closure in 2020.
We are delighted to be back using Sunbury Dry Dock and wish Felix Rait every success in managing the dry dock in the months ahead. To have this facility open again is hugely important to us as our vessels require annual inspections and include the Devon Belle - an 88 year old boat that served in the Dunkirk evacuation, which is now a great asset for the Thames but not suited to being regularly craned out. So to be able to work in an accessible dry dock, rather than having to incur huge expense, time, and uncertainty in taking our vessels down to the tidal waters, is a very welcome and timely boost to our business. I am hugely grateful to our Trade Association, British Marine, for its dogged support on this issue.
Tim Deaton Managing Director at Thames RiverCruiseIt was in August 2022 that the passenger boat trade was informed the dry dock would remain closed for the foreseeable future. That was bitter news as its initial closure, two years earlier, was understood to have been a temporary measure during the Covid pandemic. The news was all the more surprising given a year before the Environment Agency had invested £800k on installing new, state of the art, FRP dock gates and it had been widely expected the dry dock would reopen early the following year.
Faced with the unexpected, continued closure of the dry dock, passenger boat businesses struggled to make alternative arrangements for essential surveys to be carried out on their vessels. Consequently, planned schedules were disrupted, bookings lost and due to the lack of feasible timely alternatives it led to some boats being decommissioned.
That was why British Marine’s Passenger Boat Association, aided by British Marine’s Technical and Public Affairs teams, submitted a detailed report to the Environment Agency in Autumn 2022. It highlighted the impact Sunbury Dry Dock’s closure was having on the trade and the economic case for reopening it. Thereafter repeated representations were made by British Marine to the Environment Agency and supported by local MPs. Initially, it led the Environment Agency to carry out an internal investigation into its decision to close the dry dock but there was still no reversal of its decision and so British Marine’s campaign continued.
It was only in November 2023 that the new Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, Phillip Duffy, sent a more encouraging reply to British Marine’s Chief Executive and asked his new Director of Operations, Simon Hawkins, to look afresh at the matter. He wanted an assurance that all possible options for operating the dry dock were fully considered. That led to a constructive dialogue between Simon Hawkins and his team with British Marine and its members, starting with detailed discussion onboard French Brothers’ Queen of the Thames in early 2024 and, following much work on both sides, culminated in the current 18 month lease arrangement between the Environment Agency and Felix Rait of R8 Marine.
I whole heartedly welcome the reopening on Sunbury Dry Dock. My thanks to Simon Hawkins and his team for reopening the dry dock, albeit under a third party short term lease. French Brothers has already made a booking to use the dry dock next winter and, as long as the Environment Agency signal its intent to maintain this type of lease arrangement, I am sure other businesses will also return to using Sunbury Dry Dock as it is such an important and beneficial facility for the trade.
Chris French Director and Owner at French BrothersThe long term future Sunbury Dry Dock will largely depend on the level of demand for it by the trade, and whether or not passenger boats return to making regular use of it as they did before the pandemic. This is why British Marine urges those companies interested in using the dry dock again to not delay in contacting its operator, Felix Rait, on Telephone 07540 976060 to secure their bookings. This will help demonstrate to all concerned that Sunbury Dry Dock remains a commercially sound facility that is in high demand.