Generations-old Thames family business supports British shipbuilding to lead the world in sustainable, luxury tourism launching summer 2025 with The Tower of London River Tour.

Woods’ Silver Fleet proudly announce their first zero emissions tourist vessel, with construction underway at Pendennis shipyard, Cornwall, England. Designers and owners, the Woods family, have built and crewed sightseeing vessels on the River Thames for over a hundred years, yet are best known for private charter events aboard their fleet of river yachts with recent clients including Google, Net-A-Porter and Lamborghini. The new boat is the first of its kind in the UK, harnessing developments in ultra light weight, aluminium design and construction technology coupled with an innovative industry first all-battery drive train. Following extensive design and power profiling by Vulkan Marine, the team has settled on an EST-Floattech Octopus Series battery bank which will be rapid charged between each tour from a two megawatt shore charging facility (sustainable energy sources).

The Tower of London River Tour focuses their huge breadth of experience and history into the new Woods Tours brand developing a world-leading, all-electric luxury sightseeing fleet.“This new vessel represents the bridge between the past and the future of river tourism, building on the generations of experience the Woods family have operating on the river whilst striving to lead the industry’s push towards sustainability”, says Chris Kangis, CEO, Woods Tours. “We are delighted to partner with Historic Royal Palaces for the Tower of London River Tour. The Tower of London is one of the most significant London landmarks on the river and the perfect match for the tour.”

Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity that cares for the Tower of London, has agreed to exclusively partner the first 39m flagship, Thames Explorer, as the official Tower of London River Tour. Pendennis Shipyard, the renowned superyacht build team commissioned by Woods, are building a truly sustainable vess.el which will have the capacity to cruise with 250 passengers a tour (500,000 passengers a year). Toby Allies Managing Director at Pendennis said “The start of the Thames Explorer project has been an exciting period for the yard and all the team involved. The aluminium construction specified on the project is all in-house providing a perfect backdrop for some of our more experienced team members to transfer their skills and knowledge to a whole new generation of fabricators.”

He continued “The client’s requirement for the vessel is also for it to be fully battery-powered advancing our own in-house capabilities in this area that in turn will transfer to other market sectors that we operate in.” The circular Thames guided river tour will embark and disembark at Tower Bridge Quay, linked by an atmospheric stone riverside walkway to the Tower of London, and last 40 minutes featuring landmarks old and new including the Palace of Westminster, Tate Modern, London Eye, Traitor’s Gate and Tower Bridge.

The onboard spoken tour experience will be created by British actor, Martha Howe-Douglas, known for her writing and roles in BBC’s international hit series, Ghosts and Horrible Histories. The factual live tour is to be developed with leading historians and delivered with some wry twists of British humour by a trained actor.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Woods Tours on the first official Tower of London river tour. For centuries, some of the most famous Kings and Queens in our nation’s history approached the Tower by boat. Now, even more visitors will be able to experience a unique view of the Tower from the Thames, discovering more about the history of this remarkable place throughout their journey. We look forward to sharing the story with them!” Andrew Jackson, CBE, Governor of the Tower of London The attention to detail will be apparent throughout the vessel’s design from clean, contemporary lines echoing the heyday of Thames river cruising during the 1920s and 30s with wide, awning-shaded decks, single deck panoramic views, bespoke wool woven carpet from Kidderminster looms and generously upholstered in eco-leather seating.

There will also be 21st century full accessibility, solar gain reducing glazing, sound system and LED lighting. All hand built by Pendennis’ experienced team, supporting maritime apprenticeship in Falmouth, with both traditional and new technology. Due to its innovative design, the project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 4 (CMDC4), funded by the UK Department for Transport (DfT) and delivered by Innovate UK. CMDC4 is part of the Department’s UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme, a £206m initiative focused on developing the technology necessary to decarbonise the UK domestic maritime sector.

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About Woods           

Woods’ Silver Fleet (est.1947) is a family run company comprising three luxury ‘river yachts’ for private charter, Silver Sturgeon, Silver Barracuda and Silver Darling. Each vessel has been designed especially for the Thames and built in the UK by the Woods. Woods privately owned Savoy Pier, Westminster since 1998, which was redeveloped as ‘Woods Quay’ with a 140m of mooring pontoon and reception space winning a 2021 RIBA London Award for exceptional architecture. In 2002, Woods launched the London Eye River Cruise Experience in partnership with the London Eye. The Silver Bonito vessel still runs the highly successful, award winning tour today.

Woods also co-founded Thames Clippers in 1999 (the Thames’ most successful fast ferry service), managed the Royal barge, ‘Royal Nore’ for 15 years until her retirement and created the interiors of the Diamond Jubilee Row Barge ‘Gloriana’ for HM Queen Elizabeth II. Alan Woods, Chairman – Extra Waterman to HM the King Robert Coleman, Marine Director – Waterman to HM the King

About Historic Royal Palaces

Historic Royal Palaces is the independent charity that loves and looks after six of the most wonderful palaces in the world. The palaces are the setting for the stories that shape us all, and we’re bringing them to people in ways that mean more to them. We want everyone to find themselves in the spaces and stories we share.

Registered charity number 1068852. For more information visit www.hrp.org.uk

About Pendennis

With a history stretching over 35 years, Pendennis Shipyard is one of the world’s leading superyacht refit and custom build facilities renowned for its diverse sailing and motor yacht projects. Based in its 14 acre waterfront location in the thriving maritime town of Falmouth, Pendennis employs over 500 highly skilled tradespeople and has seen its people focused ethos rewarded with over 30 awards since its foundation. Pendennis’s heritage and experience include more than 350 refit projects and over 30 custom-made build projects and has been involved with some of the most iconic yachts in the world.

About Innovate UK and CMDC

In March 2022, the UK Government announced the biggest government investment ever in our UK commercial maritime sector, allocating £206m to UK SHORE, a new programme within the Department for Transport focused on decarbonising the maritime sector. UK SHORE is delivering a suite of interventions throughout 2022-2025 aimed ataccelerating the design, manufacture and operation of UK-made clean maritime technologies and unlocking an

industry-led transition to Net Zero.

The UK SHORE programme includes the flagship multi-year Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC) which provides match-funding to help bring pre-commercial technologies closer to market readiness. CMDC4 allocated £33m to 33 projects across the UK to deliver demonstrations, pre-deployment trials and feasibility studies between April 2024 – March 2025. The projects are supported by over 120 partners and will leverage more than £16m of private investment. CMDC4 follows the successful first three rounds of the CMDC, which allocated over £95m to 105 projects. CMDC1 was launched in 2021, prior to UK SHORE.