The Port of London Authority, Kent Fire Brigade, HM Coastguard, the RNLI, South East Coast Ambulance Service and Kent Police took part alongside vessel owner Cobelfret; its manager Euroship Services Ltd, terminal operators CdMR, Svitzer Marine, and the Maritime Volunteer Service.

The exercise crews were tasked with rescuing the casualties, tackling the fire, ensuring the safety of other vessels, and stemming the oil leak.

Port of London Authority chief harbour master David Snelson said, 'Safety’s our top priority and we work hard to ensure incidents don’t happen in the first place.  However, it’s important to be prepared for the worst, and that’s what this exercise was about.  Today’s practice helped us identify ways of improving our game, so that we’re properly prepared should a real incident happen.  It’s rare to have the opportunity to use a real ship for an exercise and, on behalf of everyone involved, we would like to thank Cobelfret for their involvement.'

Euroship managing director Frank Davies added, 'Any incident on the Thames involves a number of emergency services, so it is really important for them to have the chance to practice working together.  As a major customer of the Port, with more than 6,000 vessel movements on the river every year, Cobelfret were happy to take part in the exercise.”