Liverpool2 – futureproofing logistics

With work now well underway on Liverpool2 – a £300 million investment by Peel Ports to develop and expand the existing infrastructure and facilities at Port of Liverpool, creating the UK’s most central deep water container terminal – Andy Martin takes a look at the potential for a state-of-the-art freight gateway at the heart of Great Britain.

The Port of Liverpool is already Britain’s third largest container terminal – and the largest serving the transatlantic market. It currently handles a diverse range of cargo, including bulk solids and liquids, RORO and containers.

When it’s completed in late 2015, Liverpool2 will be the UK’s leading transatlantic port and will be able to accommodate 95% of the world’s fleet of container vessel types, linking with markets in the Americas, India, Far East, Caribbean, Mediterranean and the Baltics.

Liverpool2 will be THE central UK logistics hub, located at the heart of supply chains with the fastest and most efficient onward connections to the Irish Sea Hub, streamlining access to Scotland and Ireland. Liverpool2 will also connect directly to a number of portcentric logistics hubs along the Manchester Ship Canal via barge. It will be the UK’s first “green logistics hub” with the potential to considerably reduce transportation costs, congestion and carbon footprint for businesses importing and exporting to and from the UK’s central gateway.

Over half of the UK population – 35 million people – are located within a 150 mile radius of the port – the location of the Port of Liverpool offers significant advantages for importers looking to reach the manufacturing and consumption heartland of the UK more directly than southern based ports.

There is a density of warehousing in the North West, with over 400,000sq ft. of warehousing space and 10 motorways within 10 miles of the port. Very few other terminal operators in the UK have such connectivity and excellent multimodal transport links

Work is currently underway at the Port of Liverpool to increase the channel depth and reclaim land to increase the size of the site. Over £100 million is being invested in eight ship-to-shore megamax quay cranes and 22 cantilever rail-mounted gantry cranes and in ‘future-proof’ technology which will improve the flow of information, forecasting and Real Time information to enable our customers, to benefit from a much more streamlined and cost-efficient movement of freight and cargo.

Liverpool2 is not just a port operator but a logistics provider operating at the centre of the supply chain and offering flexible, agile and cost effective solutions to our customers.

Liverpool2 – at a glance

• UK’s largest transatlantic deep-sea port and container terminal
• Doubling the Port of Liverpool’s existing container capacity
• Europe’s first semi-automated container port.
• Ability to accept 95% of the global container vessel fleet
• Capable of accommodating two 13,500 TEU post-Panamax vessels simultaneously