|
Liverpool2 is preparing for a summer opening and is generating "significant" interest from the shipping industry.
The $430 million in-river development by Peel Ports was originally expected to open last December to handle some of the biggest container ships in the world.
In early 2014 it was hit by severe winter storms that put the construction project back by as much as 60 days at one stage.
By summer that year the scheme was back on track, but the December 2015 opening date was missed.
Now port director David Huck says the facility, which reclaimed land from the River Mersey to create two in-river berths on its one-kilometer-long quayside, is set to open for business this summer.
And he said shipping lines are eager to use the facility, which will offer them cheaper and quicker access to Northern markets, rather than moving goods by road up from ports in the South of England.
He told ECHO Business: "There's significant interest
|
in Liverpool2 and the commercial activity in that arena is heating up. It is building critical mass."
Next month Maersk, through its Seago subsidiary, will return to the Mersey following a 10-year absence with a route between Liverpool and the Mediterranean, offering access to South European and North African markets.
Huck said Seago will initially use the Royal Seaforth Container Terminal, but once the route becomes established the line may need the kind of facilities Liverpool2 has been created to provide.
"Once they build critical mass they will want a bigger vessel and will need to go into deep water. It is like an aircraft route. You put on a 30-seater, then a 50-seater and so on. Just small incremental steps."
And he said Liverpool2 is ready to open: "It is exciting. The training is going well and the workforce is engaged and ready to go.
For more of the Liverpool Echo story: www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
|
