Liverpool 2 | Port of Liverpool | In-River Deep-Water Post-Panamax Container Terminal

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Peel Ports today announced it has commenced the procurement phase for the construction of its new deep-water container terminal at the Port of Liverpool.

It was also revealed that the landmark terminal, which will bring some of the world’s largest container ships to the Mersey, will be branded Liverpool 2 – and will be open for business in 2015, providing shippers and lines with a new and direct route to the heart of the UK.

The new terminal will accommodate two vessels of up to 13,500 teu at a time. It will allow shipping lines to connect to the UK’s major trade centres in the most cost efficient manner.

It will also facilitate improved trans-shipment links to Ireland and Scotland through Liverpool’s existing services, allowing shipping lines to benefit from a lower cost, reduced transit time and higher frequency service whilst enabling an equalisation of equipment imbalances that exist around the British Isles.

Importers and exporters will also benefit as the terminal will enable a much cheaper route to market whilst simultaneously reducing the carbon footprint of the total journey. These benefits arise from the significant reduction in land-based mileage that result from the container terminal being located in the centre of the British Isles.

This will be the largest boost to employment creation and the local economy since the development of the Liverpool ONE city centre retail complex, delivering over 5000 jobs.

Liverpool 2, which will have an estimated overall cost in excess of £300m, is the key project in the Mersey Ports Master Plan, the 20-year vision for growth and future developments at the Port of Liverpool and on the Manchester Ship Canal – launched by Peel Ports last summer.

The development consists of the construction of a new deep water container terminal in the River Mersey, thus avoiding the vessel size restrictions of the current container terminal.

Liverpool 2 will connect directly to a number of port centric logistics hubs along the Manchester Ship Canal via barge – resulting in the development of the UK’s first “green logistics hub” which will reduce costs, congestion and carbon footprint for businesses located in the North West of England, serving the North of the UK.

This will allow global shippers to access the UK’s major import centres via the most economic and lowest carbon route and provide Northern-based exporters with a more competitive route to market.

Peel Ports Mersey Managing Director Gary Hodgson said: “There is no doubt that this facility represents a transformational project for the business. It will bring jobs and economic prosperity to the Merseyside region along with the rest of the North West. The scale of these benefits is recognised by the name Liverpool 2 – with the new terminal being the biggest boost to the area since the construction of the Liverpool ONE development in 2008. We believe it is an appropriate brand, and one that will become known throughout the world as our new container terminal brings customers to the North West from all points of the compass from South America to the Far East.

“By any standard it is a significant development and a major investment. By commencing the procurement process today, we have shown our commitment to the building of Liverpool 2.

“This is a clear message to the industry, to our stakeholders and to the community in the Merseyside Region and the greater North West that we are serious about the growth and investment we outlined in the Mersey Ports Master Plan consultation last year. It is great news for our customers and for the people of the North West of England, both of whom will see massive benefits from Liverpool 2.”

Hodgson assured the local community that the impact of construction will be minimised whilst the benefit is maximised. He said: “Where possible, we will source goods and services locally, however when we need to source goods over a longer distance, we will seek to transport construction materials by sea directly to the Port.”

The construction programme comprises of a new 854 metre quay wall, the in-filling of the newly created land-mass, the dredging of a new 16.5 metre deep berthing pocket adjacent to the quay wall, the installation of ship to shore quay cranes and modern cantilever rail mounted gantry cranes (CRMGs) and associated supporting infrastructure works.

Specifically the advertisements issued today are for:

• A contractor to act in the role of principal contractor for the development of the terminal.

• A contractor to undertake a package of dredging, infilling and quay wall construction work.

Further packages of work will be advertised during the second quarter of 2012, which will include design and consultancy services.

The start of the procurement process follows the recent appointment of Douglas Coleman, one of the UK’s most experienced ports project directors, as Programme Director for the Liverpool 2 project.

Coleman said: “The commencement of the procurement process is a landmark stage in the development of the Liverpool 2 container terminal, and we anticipate massive interest from companies throughout the ports construction industry. This is a technically complex project, but eminently achievable.”

Coleman also explained the thinking behind the use of CRMGs instead of the more traditional straddle carriers. He said: “CRMGs are a highly-efficient use of space. We have given this great thought, and the adoption of CRMG technology also means that ships are going to be serviced very quickly. They are more modern than our current straddle carrier operation, and are a high-technology solution. This will be one of the UK’s most modern container terminals, and that includes the crane technology.”

The sheer scale of the Liverpool 2 project can be shown by the quantities of materials which are needed in the construction phase – with the quay wall requiring 30,000 metres3 of concrete, 15,000 metres of steel piles and 6100 metres of new crane rails. Dredging of the berthing pocket will remove around one million metres3 of material from the Mersey; and almost three million metres3 of infill material will be required to create the new container area.

Associated infrastructure will require the construction of 3500 metres of new road, 230,000 metres2 of surfacing and 2500 metres of fencing.

This is a massive leap of faith by Peel at a time when container volumes are dropping and new UK port capacity (London Gateway) has yet to announce a customer.
Interesting thing here is the apparent rail of an adjacent rail head.
However it may be that most of the containers will be moved away by barge to port centric facilities on the Manchester Ship Canal

Cast Iron Shaw said:

This is a massive leap of faith by Peel at a time when container volumes are dropping and new UK port capacity (London Gateway) has yet to announce a customer.
Interesting thing here is the apparent rail of an adjacent rail head.
However it may be that most of the containers will be moved away by barge to port centric facilities on the Manchester Ship Canal

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Totally impractical. For starters, the Ship Canal is dependent on the same tides that forced MD&HC (Peel) to consider, plan and build in-river terminals at Birkkenhead. The barges you seem to fear will be loaded in the tidal docks of Royal Seaforth and Gladston then locked out, at high-tide, into the river. The barges will then be towed up to the Canal locks at Eastham, and due to the nature of marine towing, very slowly. Then because of missing the high water window, likely have to wait twelve hours for the next opportunity to enter the Canal. I would guess that just one string of barges will enter the Canal at each tide. Remember, ships will also have to enter and exit the locks at Eastham on each tide.

I believe that the bulk of containers will depart the Liverpool quaysides via road and rail and it will only be small, but not insignificent, amount that will transit the Ship Canal. The Canal does however offer a security factor that will make it attractive to Northwest located shippers of vulnerable and attractive, to theives, cargoes.

EuxTex said:

Totally impractical. For starters, the Ship Canal is dependent on the same tides that forced MD&HC (Peel) to consider, plan and build in-river terminals at Birkkenhead. The barges you seem to fear will be loaded in the tidal docks of Royal Seaforth and Gladston then locked out, at high-tide, into the river. The barges will then be towed up to the Canal locks at Eastham, and due to the nature of marine towing, very slowly. Then because of missing the high water window, likely have to wait twelve hours for the next opportunity to enter the Canal. I would guess that just one string of barges will enter the Canal at each tide. Remember, ships will also have to enter and exit the locks at Eastham on each tide.

I believe that the bulk of containers will depart the Liverpool quaysides via road and rail and it will only be small, but not insignificent, amount that will transit the Ship Canal. The Canal does however offer a security factor that will make it attractive to Northwest located shippers of vulnerable and attractive, to theives, cargoes.

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I would agree with you that the majority of the containers would move away by road or rail.
However Peel Ports do appear to be keen on the barge concept (see Post 3 Paras 9 & 10) so,presumably, they dont see it as 'totally impractical'!!
Peel also see the benefits of Transhipments to Ireland either by on site dedicated coaster transfer or moving the boxes acroos to Birkenhead for loading on the Ro/RO ferries there (latter likely to be a more expensive option)
There doesnt appear to be any direct rail link in the plans so it will be interesting to see what strategy is in hand to deal with this.
At the moment a fair proportion of the containers are shunted by road to the Freightliner Depot at Garston to join dedicated trains.
It will also be interesting to see who will be the new customers for the terminal.
Grimaldi has ordered big new tonnage for ACL and these ships may be too large for the Gladstone Dock entrance so this service may be transferred from the inner to the new outer dock

I am probably missing something here but what is the problem with containers being transhipped at Seaforth onto barges serving the Manchester Ship Canal? Surely the larger our hinterland is, the more attractive our port will be? After all, the authorities at Manchester Airport don't object to people from Merseyside making use of it.

I have heard the argument that Felixstowe remains a relatively insignificant East Anglian town despite having Britain's largest container port next door but for a large city such as Liverpool, proximity to a principal transhipment node for imports and exports is clearly another string to the bow.

Cast Iron Shaw said:

I would agree with you that the majority of the containers would move away by road or rail.
However Peel Ports do appear to be keen on the barge concept (see Post 3 Paras 9 & 10) so,presumably, they dont see it as 'totally impractical'!!
Peel also see the benefits of Transhipments to Ireland either by on site dedicated coaster transfer or moving the boxes acroos to Birkenhead for loading on the Ro/RO ferries there (latter likely to be a more expensive option)
There doesnt appear to be any direct rail link in the plans so it will be interesting to see what strategy is in hand to deal with this.
At the moment a fair proportion of the containers are shunted by road to the Freightliner Depot at Garston to join dedicated trains.
It will also be interesting to see who will be the new customers for the terminal.
Grimaldi has ordered big new tonnage for ACL and these ships may be too large for the Gladstone Dock entrance so this service may be transferred from the inner to the new outer dock

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The new ACL ships will be 40% larger than the old ships,and will still be able to use Gladstone lock !

Here we go again.....


UK port operators blast Government over £35m Liverpool grant

Britain's leading port operators are up in arms over a Government decision to give conditional approval to a £35m grant that they claim skews the market in favour of Liverpool's Peel Ports.

Rival port companies argue the grant contravenes the Government's stated policy for the industry, published in January, that stresses how private companies compete "without subsidy".
Peel, which runs the Mersey ports, stands to be the major beneficiary of an application by Sefton Borough Council for money from the Regional Growth Fund to help finance a dredging project. The channel deepening is associated with Peel's plans to build a new £226m container terminal capable of handling some of the world's biggest ships.

Continues http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/9309555/UK-port-operators-blast-Government-over-35m-Liverpool-grant.html

bluesnapper said:

Weird how those two companies (Hutchison Ports and Associated British Ports) are registered in Hong Kong and the Channel Islands are complaining.

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Isn't it just? And also weird that despite shrieking about UK state aid they regard European level subsidy as perfectly fine and not also distorting of competition. I wonder why pounds distort competition when euros don't? Maybe when you're a tax-avoiding, subsidy guzzling, offshore-based cynic, you can complain about anything and everything and not realise others will view you as a hypocrite.

I hope it doesn't sound too extreme if I express the opinion that public policy on ports has yet to attain a state of absolute perfection, but companies who seek to benefit from public subsidy when it suits them, and threaten and shout when someone else gets a bit, are really protesting too much. They need to f*** off. We know just how much it has been costing the taxpayer to connect these southern ports to the motorway network so they can serve distant markets, and how little the tax-dodgers contribute towards just the final connection to the network.

Hats off to Peel, they are doing what successful entreprenuers have always done - taken some risks, had some confidence, and failed to just follow the crowd. They can see the irrationality of so many goods being driven up the national road network from south eastern ports, and good luck to them in providing a greener and more economical alternative to the people and businesses of the north and midlands, and indeed Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

Who knows, maybe it will take a few years before it's fully utilised by the biggest ships that can use it, but no-one ever built a business by only serving guaranteed immediate demand. This development is vital to the future of the Port of Liverpool, and I'm really relieved and pleased it is proceeding.

kennyrouge said:

The new ACL ships will be 40% larger than the old ships,and will still be able to use Gladstone lock !

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Kenny

Thanks for this

Wasn't aware.

Interesting to see the TV programme a while back where the Mersey pilot had very little room to spare whilst transitting the Gladstone Dock Lock

Cast Iron Shaw said:

Kenny

Thanks for this

Wasn't aware.

Interesting to see the TV programme a while back where the Mersey pilot had very little room to spare whilst transitting the Gladstone Dock Lock

Click to expand...

Very little room indeed mate.I'm getting a bit sceptical about this 40% larger ships thing ,off the top of my head theres 8m to spare beam wise and about 34m to spare lengthwise with the ACL fleet at their current size in Gladstone lock,its going to be very interesting to say the least !