Post Panamax River Container Terminal
Port of Liverpool

Detailed design work is underway on the Post Panamax River Container Terminal by Peel Ports for the Port of Liverpool at an estimated cost of more than £150 million. The scheme, approved by the Department for Transport in 2007, would almost double container capacity at the Port to almost 1,500,000 teus and will have major long term economic and strategic benefits for the region.

Detailed design of the new Terminal, located on the Mersey close to the river mouth, is to be completed shortly. Once approved, a construction programme of two and a half years would follow.

The Terminal will be the first facility on the UK West Coast and serving the North of England capable of accommodating the new generation of larger container ships, which are too large to access the Port of Liverpool’s enclosed docks.

The Port’s established in-dock Royal Seaforth Container Terminal handles nearly 700,000 teus a year and accommodates ships carrying up to 4,000 teus. Its annual capacity, following recent investment, is now 800,000 teus.

The new container terminal will be capable of simultaneously loading and discharging two ships carrying up to 7,500 teus each.
It will enable the Port to consolidate established trades and expand into new sectors, enlarging the range of more than 100 global destinations it already serves.

Ranked among Britain’s major deep sea container ports and the premier port for container trade with North America, Liverpool is strategically positioned as the gateway to the North West of England – the richest cargo generating region of the UK outside London.

The new terminal will enhance the Port’s role as the premier trans-shipment hub for Ireland, currently handling more than 65% of all unitized freight crossing the Irish Sea and will offer industry throughout the North and Midlands the benefits of being able to respond to the demands of international logistics through their own local port, utilizing bigger ships which bring their own economies of scale.

The new terminal will be created by building a river wall to form a triangle of water formed by the Royal Seaforth and Gladstone Docks and back-filling behind the 800 metre long quay to create a 17 hectare terminal with an annual capacity of more than 500,000 teus.

Peel considers that development of the Post Panamax Terminal will make the single largest contribution to reducing carbon emissions from truck movements in the UK. We expect the Terminal to result in the transfer of North West generated container trade from being dependant upon south coast ports by using Liverpool and thus eliminate up to 200 million truck miles per annum.

The Post Panamax Terminal will complement the development of Port Salford ensuring that at both ends of the Ocean Gateway there will be key regional hubs.