Deep-water facility at the Port of Liverpool will be formally launched in the next few weeks and will be able to hand 95% of the world’s biggest container vessels. Tony McDonough reports.
Peel Ports is now ready to welcome 95% of the world’s biggest container ships after taking delivery of the last six of 12 giant cranes at its £400m Liverpool2 development.
When it is formally opened in the next few weeks, Liverpool2 will catapult the Port of Liverpool back into the premier league of global ports.
Final piece in the jigsaw
The six cantilever rail-mounted gantry (CRMG) cranes arrived in the River Mersey in the last few days and complete the set of 12 required for phase 1 of the deep-water terminal.
Ultimately the site will have eight STS and 22 CRMG cranes as part of a £100m equipment investment.
The cranes will be capable of performing an average of 20 moves per hour, with semi-automated control linked to the port’s new Navis N4 terminal operating system.
They have a 40 tonne under-spreader capacity and a maximum container lift height above quay level of 21m under spreader (6+1 containers).
Click to hear port director David Huck discussing marine trials at Liverpool2
Mark Whitworth, chief executive of Peel Ports, said: “These cranes are the final major piece of the infrastructure jigsaw as we approach the formal opening next month
“Liverpool2, supported by our wider logistics offering and the port’s strategic location, will provide many shippers with a route to UK and Irish markets that helps them to cut costs, congestion and carbon emissions.”
Long journey
The cranes originally set off from Nantong in August on board the Zhenhua 8 ship, passing south-east Asia, India, the Arabian Peninsula and through the Suez canal en route to Liverpool in a 49 day journey of more than13,730 miles.
The first batch of CRMGs arrived in May 2016 and the STS cranes have been visible on the Liverpool shoreline since November 2015.
Logistics revolution
Peel believes Liverpool2 will revolutionise the logistics market in the UK. Currently, a high percentage of the goods imported into the UK come into Southern English ports.
They are then taken mainly by road to the North of the country. Peel wants to persuade shipping companies to bring goods destined for Northern England and Scotland in via Liverpool.
It is creating more than 1.5m sq ft of warehousing space on the Mersey and at Port Salford at the other end of the Manchester Ship Canal.
Work begins on fuel station
The Port of Liverpool has also seen work start on 24-hours HGV refuelling station in anticipation of more lorries coming to use Liverpool2.
The occasion was marked with a ground-breaking event attended by senior representatives of Peel Ports Group and Certas Energy, who respectively own and will operate the new facility.
The project is moving forward at a lightning fast pace, with planning permission being granted just two weeks ago.
Once completed in early 2017, the facility will allow up to 8 HGVs to refuel simultaneously.