Peel Ports Took ‘Brave Decision’ With Port Of Liverpool
Owners of the Port of Liverpool, Peel Ports, took a “very brave decision” when they decided to invest in its infrastructure according to Ged Fitzgerald, chief executive of Liverpool City Council.
Fitzgerald was speaking at the opening day of the International Waterfront Forum 2016, which is taking place as part of the International Festival for Business (IFB2016) at Exhibition Centre Liverpool.
Speaking during ‘The Value of the Waterfront to the economy of Liverpool, the City Region and the nation’, Fitzgerald pointed to the regeneration of the city’s Albert Dock as a template for success.
“The story of the Port of Liverpool is fascinating. Like Albert Dock, it’s now experiencing a renaissance of its own.
“This is predicated on the change that’s happened to the width of ships and therefore their cargo carrying capacity which arises from the widening of the Panama Canal which formally opens very shortly. The ships are now wider and deeper so they can carry much bigger cargo and more containers.
“Peel Ports has taken a very brave but well informed decision in my opinion to invest in the infrastructure which will allow the port here to handle 95% of the world’s shipping from next week as opposed to where we were six months ago when it was just 5%.
“As and when the port can attract the likes of ACL and COSCO etc into the city and the city region we will be able to compete more with ports across Europe.”
Fitzgerald explained how he sees the latest improvements at the Port of Liverpool as a catalyst for driving more foreign cargo to the city region and away from other UK port’s such as Felixstowe.
“In the UK, 80/90% of all cargo comes in through South East ports like Felixstowe. The opportunity to move cargo more competitively, more efficiently and more quickly is obviously a major selling point of the port which Peel is investing in.”
The UK’s first fully-automated steel terminal was recently opened at the Port of Liverpool following a £9 million upgrade in response to increased demand for shipping via the city region.
