Tuesday 26th March 2024
The long standing popular ferry link across the River Thames linking Gravesend and Tilbury is being ‘paused’ from Saturday while a new operator is sought.
Jetstream Tours has operated the service under contract to Kent and Thurrock Councils for the last seven years but Thurrock Council’s well documented financial difficulties led it to withdraw its share of the funding creating a challenge for Kent County Council, which isn’t exactly blessed with cash either.
Despite what Jetstream Tours describe as “positive talks” with Kent County Council only a short term extension to the existing contract (believed to be 12 months) was offered due to financial uncertainties which Jetstream says “is not tenable for our business and staff ….. ultimately lead to further protracted job insecurities and have an adverse effect on our ability to adequately employ and ensure continuity of a regular and reliable ferry service.”
Following high level political pressure including Thurrock MP Dame Jackie Doyle-Price raising the matter with the Prime Minister, Thurrock Council agreed to make up its missed payments and pledged to provide cash from its pot of Section 106 funds to keep the ferry going.
But this has all come too late for Jetstream which is sailing away at the end of its contract on Saturday leaving Kent County Council seeking an alternative ferry operator to fill the void.
The ferry leaves from Gravesend’s Town Pier (pictured above) rather than the larger West Street Terminal. It’s a short walk from the town’s retail centre and station whereas the pier in Tilbury (pictured below) is more isolated…
… about a mile from Tilbury Town station along a busy road although Ensignbus provides a half hourly connecting service on its route 99 with the ferry’s half hourly frequency.
Whenever I’ve used the service it’s always had a fair number travelling and when I took one last ride with Jetstream Tours last week five passengers travelled on the 11:00 from Gravesend and 10 travelled back on the 11:15 from Tilbury.
Even better, 12 boarded the next departure from Gravesend at 11:30.
The interior of the vessel named Jacob Marley used by Jetstream Tours is rather basic but perfectly functional for a five minute crossing, which is all it takes when the Thames is nice and calm.
It was a great improvement on the interior of the vessel (see photo below) used by the previous operator – the Lower Thames and Medway Passenger Boat Company.
When I travelled on that boat named Duchess (photographed above) I recall being intrigued by the seating arrangements – individual chairs which probably date from MFI days scattered around the cabin – here’s an interior photo I found in my archive from April 2016.
Back to the current arrangements, and crossings operate on Mondays to Saturdays only between 05:40 and 19:10 ….
… making for a very convenient and quick way to travel between these parts of Kent and Essex.
A single adult fare is £4 with £5.50 for a day return. English National Concessionary Travel passes are accepted and for regular commuters there’s a book of ten single tickets for £25.
I spoke to one passenger who travels on the ferry three days a week. She had no idea what she was going to do without the ferry next week.
Using public transport to travel via the Dartford Crossing or heading into London are not really alternatives.
Google Maps hasn’t caught up with next week’s ferry demise yet. It still reckons passengers will be able to cross on the non existent ferry next Tuesday morning. Don’t forget your swimming trunks.
It’s a 15 hour day for the two-person Jetstream crew making for a long working day. The service frequency is interrupted while they take two well earned 45 minute breaks at 09:15 and 14:15 but otherwise they’re on the go all the time, albeit only a third of the time actually sailing.
Unless a ferry operator is located nearby I can’t see it proving a sound business for what I suspect is a limited amount of funding both councils can make available.
It’s a shame Sunak’s Network North slush fund hasn’t come to the rescue.
Roger French
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Comments on today’s blog are welcome but please keep them relevant to the blog topic, avoid personal insults and add your name (or an identifier). Thank you.
BusAndTrainUser 
It is certainly further north than some of the things that the slush fund has supported. Can they not put wheels on it, introduce an element of amphibiousness and request BSIP for it?
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Don’t ask Calmac for a spare 🙄
Steve
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Well their ex boss is lookoing for a job having just been fired as further delays to the two ferries are announced
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..or Red Jet.
Robin
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I did this yesterday. The voyage was exactly as you describe. It’s worth noting that the walk up the main road from the ferry to Tilbury Town station is grim – littered and dirty pavement, and lorries to and from the port exceeding the speed limit. On the other hand, a diversion to look at Tilbury Fort (from the outside – it’s closed more often than not) was really worthwhile.
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Likewise. Both sailings I went on were sparsely populated (4 or 5, I can’t remember whether I counted myself) but I gather that at certain times there are (or were) significantly more with school pupils making the journey north to south to get to Kent’s Grammar Schools according to one of the crew. The only time I witnessed it packed out was when a group of Japanese tourists from a cruise ship decided that the delights of Gravesend outweighed those of Tilbury. (‘Retail centre’ is an interesting description). Incidentally, anyone with a rail ticket for ‘Tilbury Town or Riverside’ can travel on the bus for free (provided you retain the ticket). Although its main use will have disappeared, it does cut down the walk to Tilbury Fort.
I started using the ferry last summer when I heard that Thurrock’s subsidised bus services were coming to an end, to access places that are now a public transport desert. Then the stock vessels were the Thames(?) Kestrel and Thames(?) Swift, which looked remarkably like the Duchess!! I gather that one of these vessels (at least) is out of service, perhaps permanently. With the summer season and a season of excursions coming up, they may have decided that was the way to go in future.
The photograph with the weak bridge is the car ramp. Some drivers can get very agitated if pedestrians use it. There is an approved pedestrian route but didn’t look open yesterday, which is covered and commemorates the arrival of the passengers on the Windrush. Unfortunately, like much of the area, it is relatively uncared-for, sadly.
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Those working hours would appear to be in breach of the law
THE MERCHANT SHIPPING (WORKING TIME: INLAND WATERWAYS) REGULATIONS 2017
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In the summer of 1961 my parents took me for my first holiday south of the River Thames. We traveled all the way by bus except for the middle part which was from “Tilbury (Riverside)(Main)” to “Gravesend (Town Pier)”. I still have the 2nd class tickets issued by British Rail, the adult single fare being 10 old pence whereas my child ticket was 4d. My overwhelming memory is of the size (to an eight year old) of the Tilbury Riverside Station but sadly I can’t remember any details of the vessel.
In more recent times I have used the ferry on Ensign Bus running days and it has always seemed quite busy.
Nigel Turner
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The ferry was probably one of three identical British Railways vessels: Catherine, Edith and Rose. They were replaced by new identically named vessels in the year you travelled, the originals dating from 1931. Rose later became Caledonian Macbrayne’s Keppel; the other two remained on the service after the privatisation of Sealink, with Edith finally retiring in 1991.
The vessel in Roger’s archive photo is actually Duchess M, not plain Duchess.
KCC
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should TfL take over some of these strategic Thames Crossings ? Why does Thurrock, rather than the wider Essex Council get the financial responsibility ? What does the Department for Transport actually do.
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Thurrock is a unitary council and Essex has no responsbility for the area.
KCC
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why should Londoners pay for a service between Kent and Essex?
PSD
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When I went on the ferry (some years ago) I noticed quite a few cars parked on the pontoon at Tilbury, presumably these were Essex-side commuters using the ferry as a park-and-sail service. Although not a huge number in the grand scheme of things, these are extra vehicles which will now have to funnel through the Dartford Crossings.
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It’s lamentable that money can soon be found for some things, when these become the always short-lived flavour of the month, but not others that have a genuine long-lived and long term value; such as this ferry service. Councils’ and central Government priorities are rarely properly thought through and genuinely joined-up, and thus create conflict between their aspirations. Gone are the days when providing a service to the public was the priority, rather than making a profit.
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It’ll be an absolute scandal if this vital transport link is cut. It’s had a few narrow escapes in the past but a solution has always been found – let’s hope commonsense prevails this time.
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I’ been using this service for 32 years to get to work. Absolutely devastated that Friday will be my last journey. So very sad.
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Please check, I’m not sure it is running on Friday – Good Friday (a Bank Holiday). I believe there is a notice to that effect.
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Sad indeed, and memories of the passenger surveys which the KCC and Essex CC used to do periodically. It had been part of the Eastern Region arm of British Railways, and thus the booking office at Gravesend, resembling a normal station, bedecked in Eastern blue rather than Southern green a few hundred yards up the road. And passenger movements were very balanced even in the 1970/80s, with large numbers of Workers heading to Essex in the peaks and Shoppers from Essex off-peak, particularly on Saturdays. Sadly both locations have deteriorated in their appeal and bear no resemblance to the former “glory” days. I suspect the Ensign running days are probably the busiest it now gets.
Whilst always an enjoyable few days doing passenger surveys for the KCC, I was always unlucky enough to get boat duties on the very worst weather days of the year. And they were much larger vessels then! Not being a very good sailor at the best of times, on one occasion the river was so rough that I had to be exchanged with an Essex based shore duty for the remainder of my shift, spending most of the time worrying about my return journey!
Presumably, First Group as Ensign, will be looking at the value of the 99 bus now?
Terence Uden
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Picks up/ drops off a fair few at an estate on the east of the town (Brennan Road ?), then the Civic Square and station area then heads up to Asda. Whether that is enough to justify a half hour service, but there is patronage outside of the ferry.
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Just open up a few other piers along the Thames, make it “demand responsive” via some sort of App, and it’ll get a nice big grant.
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Perhaps it is time to extend the London Riverboat service down beyond Greenwich. There are a few piers it could serve along the way and then terminate at Gravesend having gone to Tilbury first. This would be like the old General Steam Navigation boats that ran from London down to Essex and Kent. Perhaps with faster boats they could provide a viable alternative?
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Thames Clippers are the current operator of the Gravesend pier, and have trialled services to London. But journey times are singularly uncompetitive with South Eastern High Speed at 24 minutes to central London.
KCC
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Isle of Wight services could also use a spare boat!
The two Red Funnel “Red Jet” cats in regular service (6 & 7) have been unreliable of late, and Red Jet 4 is fairly broken (needs major engine work, is not fully certified anymore, is moored up, and is listed for sale on a ship brokering website). Red Funnel has been having to charter a slower passenger boat (from “Blue Funnel”) to cover capacity (at times down to one working boat)
Several of the other boats (both operators) have also been having issues in the last few months, age related or just unfortunate in some cases, with the newest hybrid boat (Victoria of Wight) occasionally out of service for more complex reasons (hybrids being more complex to start)
Miles T
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The new England Coast Path guses hte ferry, but being a zealot I wolked round via the Woolwich tunnel. Much better idea!
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I’m a little surprised that the current operator didn’t view a 1 year contract extension as preferable to having no work at all. I assume a year is rather longer than the notice period they would need to give their staff, though perhaps they were already jumping ship (sorry!) for more secure or better paid work or the boat needs costly work that wouldn’t be recouped over a single year.
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I first started travelling on the Ferry in the late Spring/ early Summer, there were two other vessels in use, more basic (and smaller) than the Jacob Marley. It was the autumn when I first traveled on the Jacob Marley, I was not the only passenger that was surprised by the change (it docked at Tilbury in a different place for a start), it had clearly been recently used for some of Jetstream’s more leisure focused activities. We were told that one of the others was in for repair and the other had been moored up. So your last point is probably correct. On one occasion, a crew member was taken ill, so sailings were cancelled until they could get a replacement in place – from Chatham.. They have probably had enough.
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Meanwhile according to a KentOnLine report £300 million has been spent so far on the planning application for the Lower Thames Crossing ….
Steven Saunders
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I used the route in my days as an All Line Rail Rover ticket holder, as I did on Windermere. My final use of the route was in my early days as a motorcycle driver. Between home in Surrey and a destination in Kent I explored the Dartford – Purfleet tunnel before popping myself and my machine aboard the ferry then driving down to Birchington-on-Sea. I suppose the final times I crossed the river here was on Route X80 – gloomy tunnel but superb view from the bridge. I was just too young to do the London – Thanet route by river boat yet I was aware of the facility. However my best trip to Birchington was in the cab of a 4-CEP train when aged about twelve. Gangway doors just have to be locked otherwise all and sundry might get into a motor cab. A Class 309 does a good cab ride too – the only really decent stock “out east”!
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/unless passenger numbers can be increased very significantly the serice will simply be to expemsived to keep going
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You have to ask what the Port of London Authority is doing? Apparently the port has a value added economic benefit of £4 billion pounds. The PLA itself had a surplus of £8 million in its last published accounts (2021). Surely it should take some responsibility for this ferry?
mikeC
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