London: The Port of Liverpool has received approval from the British Government for the construction of a new $180m post-Panamax container terminal. The terminal is expected to virtually double container capacity and consolidate the port's potential as a strategic gateway for trade with Asia and China.
The new post-Panamax terminal will feature an 820 metre quay capable of simultaneously handling two 7,000 teu vessels and a container stack of 17 hectares (42 acres). It is expected to have an annual capacity of more than 500,000 teus, bringing the Port's total container facility to nearly 1.5 million teus.
The Peel Ports Group, which operates the port of Liverpool, hopes that the new terminal would serve as an entry point for the estimated 400,000 teus of East Asian trade and 120,000 teus of Indian Sub-Continent trade that are consumed within 120kms of its premises.
"The government decision is great news for all sectors of Liverpool's container trade, but has particular significance for Asia," said Frank Robotham, marketing director at Peel Ports. "The Port's growing volume of Far East transhipment cargo clearly demonstrates the demand for a direct service between Asia and Liverpool. By developing a terminal able to accommodate the post-Panamax vessels that serve the Far East, Liverpool is setting the scene for its increasingly significant role in Asian trade with the UK."
"To date, post Panamax vessels have only had the costly option to berth in UK south coast ports. Once the new terminal is opened in Liverpool, Asian exporters will have the benefit of being able to get much closer to their UK customers, saving as much as US$400 on the total through cost per container, by shipping through Liverpool rather than UK South Coast ports. And of course, they will continue to enjoy the economies of scale offered by these larger vessels."
Robotham added that major shipping companies such as China Shipping, Evergreen, CMA CGM, MSC, Hapag Lloyd and Atlantic Container Line, already regularly call at Liverpool. [27/06/07]
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