Peel Ports director Gary Hodgson says the £400m Liverpool2 container terminal can transform the UK logistics sector and offer a boost the city region and UK economy

The logistics business is under pressure like never before. Despite Government backing for an export-led economy there remain significant concerns, not least over Brexit, customer price pressures, and driver shortages.

For our part, we have made several big announcements this year that will see our business take another step forward in 2018. In the summer, we pressed the button on the phase 2 expansion of Liverpool2, which will see the container terminal provide even more capacity for cargo owners who see the benefits of shipping their goods closer to and from their key locations.

We also revealed in the autumn that we were to offer a rail freight service next year. It’s the first time we have offered an integrated package, giving shippers a seamless route to market, from quayside to any UK destination served by major rail lines, or vice versa.

We’ve long prided ourselves on being more than just a network of ports and this development is the next step in our journey to provide shippers with a better end-to-end answer for their cargo needs.

It’s also an important milestone in our evolution as a company and underlines how serious we are about being a genuine partner in the supply chain community.

Our approach has been endorsed by industry peers and politicians at recent events we’ve hosted in Liverpool and London, and our Cargo200 initiative continues to receive support.

So there’s no doubt we’re on the right track for ourselves, our customers and the Mersey region.