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To:-
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COMMONS
OF THE CITY OF LONDON IN COMMON COUNCIL ASSEMBLED
My Lord Mayor, Lady and Gentlemen,
I have the honour, as Medical Officer for the Port of London, to submit my Annual Report for
the year ending 31st December, 1970.
This Report has, as usual, been prepared in accordance with the directive issued in November
1963 by the Secretary of the Ministry of Health, and contains the full details required quinquennially.
The year was one of considerable change. There has been a phased contraction in the number
of traditional up River wharves and dock berths, including the closure of Surrey Commercial Dock,
resulting in the transfer of shipping lines to facilities further down River. There has been an
improvement and expansion of the accommodation down river to meet demands associated with
the growth of containerisation, unitisation, and larger bulk Carrie's as well as of transferred
shipping.
A further notable change, which took place on 21st September, was the implementation of
Devlin phase II, which extended the length of the working day of the Port From that date ships
have loaded and discharged cargoes between 07.00 hours and 21.00 hours, from Monday to Friday
and on occasions during Saturday and Sunday. This has necessitated the attendance of Port
Health Inspectors to cover these additional hours.
I wish to express my appreciation of the invaluable assistance which has been given by the
numerous individuals and organisations whose work is so closely allied with ours in the Port.
The co-operation which is displayed is of the utmost importance in carrying out the multitude of
operations in which we are involved.
A paper incorporating information obtained on the visit of the late Chairman and myself to
inspect ports in the United States of America and Canada is included as an appendix. This was
published in "The Medical Officer" of 20th June, 1970, pages 360-362.
I have the honour to be, Lady and Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
W.G. SWANN, M.D., B.Sc.,
Medical Officer of Health,
Port and City of London.
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