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Liverpool’s new £300 million in-river terminal on schedule for 2015 opening
Construction of the Port of Liverpool’s new £300 million container terminal is on schedule and has now entered a new phase as steel piling gets underway in the River Mersey.
The piles will effectively provide the backbone for the new in-river facility, with specialist rock drilling equipment providing sockets for as many as 329 tubular steel piles weighing in at 47 tonnes each.
Altogether in excess of 19,000 tonnes of steelwork will be needed to create the new 854 metre-long quay wall, followed by 30,000 cubic metres of concrete to build the capping beam. At almost 30 metres high this will become one of the highest quay walls in Europe.
The completed quay wall will allow two vessels of up to 13,500 TEU to dock simultaneously when the terminal opens for business in 2015.
“Our investment in Liverpool2 will enable deep sea vessels to call directly at the most centrally positioned port in the UK, allowing shippers to access a market of over 35 million consumers within 150 miles,” said Mark Whitworth, CEO of the Peel Ports Group which owns the Port of Liverpool.
UK Chancellor, George Osborne, who visited the Port of Liverpool earlier this year said that Peel Ports’ investment in Liverpool2 was ‘important to the UK as a whole’, saying that Peel Ports’ investment indicated that ‘this country is open for business, and ready to compete in the global race’.