Liverpool2 opens to mega ships

One of the world’s most modern shipping terminals, Liverpool2, is being officially opened today.

Here, we take a look at some of the project’s key facts.

Catchment area

The £400 million investment by Peel Ports, one of the UK’s biggest port operators, will provide a state-of-the-art ocean gateway for UK importers and exporters with road, rail and canal connections linking directly to the heart of the UK mainland, accessing a catchment of over 35 million people, almost 58 percent of the UK’s population.

Mega ships

Liverpool2 is one of the UK’s largest private sector infrastructure projects. It was developed in response to shipping industry trends towards the use of ‘mega’ ocean-going container ships. Liverpool2 will now be able to handle the biggest cargo vessels in the world.

Site footprint

The terminal construction has seen a site of around 16 hectares reclaimed from the sea. There is a new 854m quay wall and land created from 5.5 million tonnes of sand and silt dredged from the Mersey. The site is large enough to accommodate the stadiums of all four major Liverpool and Manchester football clubs.

Megamax cranes

The site currently has five ‘megamax’ ship to shore (STS) transfer cranes and 12 quayside container handling cranes (known as CRMGs). There will be another three STS cranes and 10 CRMGs. These alone have cost £100m. The apex of the STS cranes is 92m – four metres short of the height of Westminster’s Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben clock tower). When the boom is raised, it is more than 130m high.

Demographics

35 million people in the UK & Ireland live closer to Liverpool than the traditional container ports in the South of England – 58 percent of the UK’s population is closer to Liverpool than its competitor ports in the south.

Region

The North-west of England has seen a number of significant investments in supply chain warehousing, including warehouses to serve Waitrose, Aldi, Poundland, B&M, Matalan, Missguided and many others.