Peel Ports has started the tendering process for a £300m container terminal at Liverpool which will be capable of handling 13,500 teu ships when it opens in 2015.
Liverpool 2 will be a deep water container terminal in the River Mersey, thus avoiding the vessel size restrictions of the current container terminal.
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 and associated supporting infrastructure works.
The terminal will accommodate two vessels of up to 13,500 teu at a time, and will connect directly to a number of port centric logistics hubs along the Manchester Ship Canal via barge.
Peel Ports describes it as the UK’s first “green logistics hub” which will reduce costs, congestion and carbon footprint.
Peel Ports Mersey Managing Director Gary Hodgson said the new terminal would be the biggest boost to the area since the construction of the Liverpool ONE development in 2008.
The plan involves the use of cantilever rail mounted gantry cranes (CRMGs) rather than traditional straddle carriers. Programme direct Douglas Coleman 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.”
Advertisements for the project, have published in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union – a statutory obligation for a contract of this size.
