Peel Ports and ZPMC sign multi-million dollar contract

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At a formal ceremony in Shanghai yesterday, a multi-million dollar contract was signed between UK port operator Peel Ports and engineering firm ZPMC to boost future bilateral trade opportunities between the UK and China.

With an investment of over US$510 million, Peel Ports will redevelop and expand the existing port of Liverpool, thereby creating Liverpool2, a deep-water port that will be able to accommodate 95% of the world’s container fleet, including post-Panamax vessels.
ZPMC will supply eight ship-to-shore (STS) quay cranes and 22 cantilever rail-mounted gantry cranes (CRMGs) for the Liverpool2 project.
After visiting ZPMC’s engineering facilities at Changxing and Nantong,Peel Ports CEO Mark Whitworth said: “China has a long history of trading with the UK and Liverpool2, located at the heart of Great Britain, will offer a more direct trading
route for cargo coming from China to reach over 65% of the UK population who live within 240km of Liverpool.
UKPrime Minister David Cameron welcomed the Liverpool2 investment as a more efficient method of transporting goods to the north of the UK, thereby bypassing southern ports such as Southampton andTilbury.
The UK is China’s 3rd largest source of imports. UK goods imports from China reached US$56.8 billion in 2013, growing 6% year-on-year and 9% since 2010.



The future site of the Liverpool SuperPort. Photo: PA
The UK's latest riverside container terminal, Liverpool2, should be ready in the fourth quarter of 2015, port director David Huck told IHS Maritime.
Earlier this month, owner Peel Ports launched dredging operations for the deepsea terminal, which will handle post-Panamax box ships up to 13,500teu. The terminal is being built, in particular, to meet a growing trend towards feedering containers from giant vessels unloading at Europe's biggest northern range ports.
"Over the past 18 months, APL, Evergreen, and Zim have started to offer weekly feeder connections into Liverpool, whilst MSC and CMA CGM have continued to grow their long-standing feeder volumes through the port," said Mark Whitworth, Peel Ports Group chief executive.
"Calling at Liverpool gives carriers the chance to balance import and export flows, with laden cargoes moving in both directions because of the proximity to the net export markets of Scotland, Ireland, and [NW England]." The group said shortsea shipping was also being driven by European transport policies encouraging a modal shift away from road haulage.
Containers that would once have been trucked to and from southern UK ports are increasingly shipped to the North by feeder vessels or rail.



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