John Dillon-Leetch

John started his career afloat as an offshore surveyor and party chief in the oil and gas sector overseas and in the North Sea. He moved to the PLA in 1996, where he worked on the river as a surveyor for 10 years, becoming the deputy port hydrographer and commercial manager in 2005 and port hydrographer in 2019. In his present role, John is responsible for the surveying and charting of the 400 square miles of the River Thames and estuary. The Hydro team is the busiest port hydrographic department in the UK and one of the strongest in the world, comprising 20 employees in total and using three dedicated survey craft fitted with a range of advanced surveying systems including, since 2021, three aerial survey drones and, since 2023, an unmanned survey vessel (USV). John is a chartered marine scientist through IMarEST and a director on the board of the Hydrographic Society. He also leads the delivery of an IHO CAT A and hydrographic surveying MSc co-delivered with University College London.

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Presentation

Project ZEPHR – Zero-Emission Ports Hydrogen Refuelling

This presentation is by the consortium partners of Project ZEPHR and will describe the project, which is funded through the UK government's ZEVI (Zero Emission Vessel and Infrastructure) competition. The project encompasses the design, manufacture and operation of a green-hydrogen-fueled uncrewed surface vessel (USV), to be operated on the River Thames in London, and includes local green hydrogen production and storage.