HEAVY loads could soon be making their way to Worcester up the River Severn, rather than by road.

The news follows the naming of an £8m multi-purpose pontoon vessel, built to ferry Concorde to its final resting place.

The Terra Marique will work in conjunction with a smaller vessel called Inland Navigator which is able to transport loads of up to 400 tonnes by water to cities including Worcester, Leeds, Maidenhead, Nottingham, Rotherham, and York.

The Terra Marique itself, which is capable of transporting loads of 1,200 tonnes along waterways such as the Thames and Manchester Ship Canal, was created thanks to a Government freight facilities grant.

Together the two vessels can transport huge pieces of cargo many hundreds of miles around the UK coast and to the ports and inland waterway systems of north-west Europe.

Transport Minister David Jamieson, who was at the launch, said: "In June 2002, I announced a substantial grant to allow the construction of Terra Marique and its daughter vessel, Inland Navigator.

"Regular motorists will know how much disruption abnormal loads can cause on the roads.

"We are committed to a 'water-preferred' policy for moving the largest and heaviest abnormal loads around the country - for example, electrical generators and transformers.

"Where there is a request to move these large loads by road, we now insist that the possibility of moving by water is thoroughly explored."

Paul Watters, head of roads and transport policy for the AA Motoring Trust, said: "One less abnormal load on the road network can save the country tens of thousands of pounds, and thousands of hours in time for the many people who would otherwise have their journeys disrupted.

"Moving some big loads by road is no longer an automatic first choice now that the Terra Marique is available."

The Terra Marique will be taking British Airways' final Concorde, now at Heathrow Airport, by river and sea to the Museum of Flight at East Fortune, near Edinburgh, early next month.