The Peel Ports Group, running the seaport in Liverpool, has received five cantilever rail-mounted gantry (CRMG) cranes, part of the Liverpool2 £400m-big expansion project.

The new 500t-heavy and 35 m-tall equipment, manufactured by Zhenhua Heavy Industries, is the first of two deliveries in 2021, with the second to also encompass five units. In total, 22 CRMGs will be working together with eight ship-to-shore cranes.

Work on the current phase of the Liverpool2 project is expected to be fully completed in summer 2021; the upgraded Peel Ports Liverpool will also feature automated gates and vehicle booking systems. Once fully online, Liverpool2 will have the capacity to handle two 380 m-long vessels simultaneously.

"We are on course to achieve our ambitious growth plans to drive UK container market share to 20% by 2025. Liverpool2 is already one of the world's most modern shipping terminals and we have no plans of slowing down any time soon. This recent delivery is testament to this and adds to three additional ship-to-shore cranes already delivered into live operations in December 2019," David Huck, Managing Director, the Peel Ports Group, commented.

He furthered, "The combination of Brexit-related changes and the impetus provided by COVID-19 has highlighted the vulnerability of supply chains to disruption, prompting a significant number of businesses to look at bringing more activity back to the UK."

"Working closely with the world's leading shipping lines, we hope to encourage more services to the Port of Liverpool to help alleviate some of the pinch points on supply chains that have previously relied on Southern ports. Improving supply chain resilience could help to support the UK Government's levelling up agenda by rebalancing economic activity away from the South towards areas in the North," Huck summed up.

Photo: Peel Ports Group