In 2016, WEC Lines began weekly calls at the Port of Liverpool connecting with Lisbon, Setubal, Leixoes and Sines, with other links to Ireland, Scotland, Morocco, Spain and the Canary Islands

Dutch shipping company WEC Lines is to launch a new cargo services connecting the Port of Liverpool with Huelva and Vigo in Spain, Leixoes in Portugal and Dublin.

The service will begin from the end of September with weekly 300TEU vessels, but this is expected to grow significantly once trade develops.

In 2016, WEC Lines began weekly calls at the Port of Liverpool connecting with Lisbon, Setubal, Leixoes and Sines, with other links to Ireland, Scotland, Morocco, Spain and the Canary Islands.

Jouke Schaap, container port director at Peel Ports, said: “This further underlines what we’ve been saying about how the dynamics of the UK logistics sector is changing.

“Shipping directly into the North West of the UK provides cargo owners with the chance to reduce costs, congestion and carbon emissions by getting closer to their end market.

“It’s a further endorsement of the compelling case behind our Cargo200 initiative, which is now backed by 225 supporters representing more than 1.5m TEU a year.

“That is clear evidence of the demand for direct deep-sea calls at Liverpool.”

The Cargo200 campaign calls for importers and exporters whose goods begin or end their journey in the north of the UK to switch current delivery of ocean freight from South East ports to the centrally-located Port of Liverpool.

The initiative aims to cut freight mileage by 200m miles by 2020.