News

Liverpool tools up for more container trade

For Immediate Release - 19 July, 2006

Five new straddle carriers have gone into service at the Port of Liverpool as part of an £4.25 million investment programme in response to growing trade at the UK's third busiest container terminal.

Each capable of lifting containers one above two, the carriers were constructed on site after being shipped in knock-down form from the German manufacturers, Noell Crane Systems and bring to 34 the fleet available for operation at the increasingly busy facility.

Liverpool's Royal Seaforth Container Terminal last year handled 626,000 teus and has attracted three new North Atlantic container services since the start of 2006, consolidating. Liverpool's position as the No. 1 UK port for trade with the USA and Canada.

The Port is currently awaiting the outcome of a Public Inquiry into plans to build a post-Panamax container terminal at the mouth of the River Mersey in anticipation of the North Atlantic trade switching to the larger generation of container ships. The development, which would almost double Liverpool's container capacity, would also keep pace with growing volumes of trade from other parts of the globe.

Meanwhile, the Royal Seaforth Terminal which underwent a £25 million restructuring at the beginning of the decade, has been targeted by the Peel Ports Group for further investment including:

• The amalgamation of the Coastal Container Terminal into the deepsea terminal
• Creation of another 500 teu slots on the container park
• Expansion of the interchange area for trucks delivering and collecting containers by 5 bays from 25 to 30 bays
• Automation of another two lanes for deepsea and coastal traffic at the main gate to the Royal Seaforth Container Terminal
• Raising the height of the straddle carrier maintenance workshop - known colloquially as the giraffe house - by another 3.5 metres to accommodate today's larger machines.

Budha Majumdar, Managing Director of Mersey Ports (Port of Liverpool and the Manchester Ship Canal) commented: "Coming so soon after a major multi-million pound re-shaping of the facility, the acquisition of additional straddle carriers and the implementation of other adjustments to the Container Terminal are indicative of the Port of Liverpool's growing stature among the container shipping community."

"In addition to the three new container services to North America, Liverpool is now handling containers from 100 non-EU origins and destinations including India, the Far East and China."

The delivery of the five new straddle carriers brings the number of Noell machines at the Liverpool terminal to 25. "The latest order placed with Noell reflects our satisfaction with the reliability and availability of the fleet," added Mr Majumdar.

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