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CMA CGM doubles frequency of feeder service to UK port
French shipper CMA CGM has given the thumbs up to Peel Ports’ £300 million Liverpool2 project by doubling the frequency of its feeder service to the port.
The Marseille-based ocean carrier will now offer bi-weekly calls in Liverpool from its hub in Le Havre, France, on top of its new weekly call at Greenock, Scotland, and Cork, Ireland. Weekly calls to Dublin and Belfast were already established.
The company’s expansion into Liverpool will take advantage of Peel Ports’ established Green Highway Network, a shuttle service which carries freight 44 miles inland using the Manchester Ship Canal.
“CMA CGM is a valued partner on vital Irish Sea routes, and this expansion demonstrates not only its commitment to Liverpool, but its confidence in the continuing growth in global trade to and from the port,” commented Peel Ports’ commercial director, Ross Thompson.
“Increasing capacity in this way means container carriers unloading at the completed Liverpool2 development from across the globe will benefit from rapid, seamless forwarding of goods to Ireland and Scotland, as well as on to Europe via CMA CGM’s hub in Le Havre.”
“This development also shows the combined value of Peel Ports’ assets in Liverpool, Dublin, Belfast and Greenock and how these can serve the market around the Irish Sea Hub as well as providing a low-cost solution for empty containers to be returned by ship and refilled.”
Work has already begun on the port’s deep-water container terminal, to be known as Liverpool2, which will enable the call of the new breed of post-Panamax vessels of up to 13,500 TEU to call the Port of Liverpool for the first time.
Due to open in 2015, Liverpool2 will enable container ships from around the world to connect directly with the northern half of the UK and Ireland to so serve a market estimated at around 4 million TEU a year.
