Peel seeks contractors for £300m container terminal
PEEL Ports has begun the procurement phase for the construction of its new deepwater container terminal at the Port of Liverpool.
The terminal, which will allow it to handle two ships containing up to 13,500 teu at a time, will be branded as Liverpool 2 and will open in 2015.
Peel Ports said the terminal will allow shipping lines to connect to the UK’s major trade centres in the north of England much more easily, as well as offering trans-shipment links both to Ireland and Scotland, reducing transit times and carbon footprints, as well as “enabling an equalisation of equipment imbalances” in shipping facilities around the British Isles.
The firm added that the enlarged container terminal would produce the biggest boost to Liverpool’s economy since the opening of Grosvenor’s Liverpool One retail development, delivering more than 5,000 new jobs.
The scheme is also part of its larger Mersey Ports masterplan that will lead to existing facilities being upgraded along the length of the Manchester Ship Canal.
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.
“This is a clear message to the industry, 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.”
He added that where possible it will source goods and services for the construction programme locally.
Work will include the creation 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, the installation of ship-to-shore quay cranes and modern cantilever rail-mounted gantry cranes (CRMGs) and associated supporting infrastructure works.
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 cubic metres of concrete, 15,000 metres of steel piles and 6,100 metres of new crane rails.
Dredging of the berthing pocket will remove around one million cubic metres of material from the Mersey; and almost three million cubic metres of infill material will be needed to create the new container area.
