Peel Ports has been recognised for its commitment to environmental stewardship in the delivery of its Manchester Ship Canal project by the prestigious and historic Carmen Awards.

The awards, which honour exceptional achievement in industry and individual enterprise, praised the business’ revival of the historic trade route and Victorian engineering masterpiece to build a sustainable platform for modern day growth in the North West. Previous winners include the Highways Agency for the Hindhead Tunnel project and The Mayor of London’s Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme.

While the awards reserved particular praise for the Manchester Ship Canal project, recognition was given to Peel Ports’ wider investment programme in the region, which includes the development of multimodal hubs at Port Salford, Port Cheshire and Port Warrington and the delivery of Liverpool2, a £300 million on-going investment in a new deep sea container terminal.

Each of the projects will contribute to a significant reduction in environmental impact and freight mileage by 2020, allowing the North-west to balance the need for additional economic capacity with commitments to lower carbon emissions.

Mark Whitworth, Chief Executive of Peel Ports, welcomed the award, saying:

“We are tremendously proud of this recognition of our long-term vision to drive economic growth in a sustainable manner, creating wealth and prosperity for the UK and the North West region.

“As the balance of UK logistics is changing as more and more users are trying to minimise the use of road networks, the UK’s only major freight waterway, the Manchester Ship Canal, is witnessing a resurgence in trade.

“Our projects will provide the infrastructure that will support efforts to rebalance the economy, providing a solid backbone to the newly emerging Northern Powerhouse. By eliminating unnecessary road journeys, reducing others and transforming how empty equipment is repositioned, our strategy also acts to cut our reliance on fuel, its cost and associated carbon emissions.”

In the last five years, the number of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) handled on the Manchester Ship Canal  has risen from 4,500 to 25,190 TEUs in 2015, with an estimated saving of more than 700,000kgs of CO2 and 1.6 million road kilometres saved in 2015 alone.

These environmental benefits will be further driven by a series of interlinking projects, centred on the development of multimodal logistics hubs between Liverpool and Manchester that integrate warehousing with rail, road and waterborne transport.

Peel Ports was further recognised for the launch of its Cargo200 initiative in May 2015 which calls for importers and exporters whose goods began or ended 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 200 million miles over the next five years. In addition to achieving significant carbon reduction, the company also estimates that the move could save shippers up to £400 per container in transportation costs by delivering to the heartland of the UK. Goods could then be shipped along the Manchester Ship Canal closer to their destination.

The port operator received further praise this week – triumphing in the Innovation category at this year’s Mersey Maritime Awards, which support business growth in the region’s ports and maritime sector.

The awards recognised Peel Ports’ work in revitalising the Manchester Ship Canal and the operator’s delivery of strategic port locations and diverse commodity expertise – enabling the business to develop the best UK solution for importing and exporting goods and quickest routes to market for clients.