Trinity House, the General Lighthouse Authority (GLA) for England, Wales and Channel Islands, will not award a contract for the replacement of THV Patricia under the current procurement process.

The GLA however intends to commence a new procurement process in due course.

The decision announced last month was made following a procurement process which was conducted in accordance with the Public Contract Regulations 2015. The process resulted in no bids that fully met Trinity House’s requirements, and therefore no award will be made.

Delivery of its statutory obligations to provide aids to navigation for the safety of navigation within its areas of responsibility remains a high priority for Trinity House.

Following the completion of dry-docking the THV Patricia this year, the multil-functional tender has been fully recertified to UK Flag State requirements, and can for the time being continue to operate safely with our experienced crews.

The requirement for Trinity House to replace the multi-function tender THV Patricia (built in 1982) was agreed by the Maritime Minister following the conclusion of a thorough Fleet Review in 2018 that a layered fleet of seven ships provides the most pragmatic solution to meet the three General Lighthouse Authorities’ statutory obligations.

Asides the GLA of Trinity House, the other two GLA's are the Northern Lighthouse Board which is responsible for Scottish and Manx waters while Irish Lights covers the entire island of Ireland.