The complex engineering operation, over 24 months in the planning, has seen the West Inner Gate at the Port’s Gladstone Lock replaced. Despite the temporary Gladstone Lock closure, over 90% of vessels have been able to access berths via the Port’s Langton Lock during the outage.The work has seen the giant West Inner Gate – 16m in height and weighing 400 tonnes – removed following the fixing in place of a limpet dam at the mouth of the lock. The refurbished gate is now being manoeuvred into place and the dam removed. Peel Ports Mersey’s Head of Port Operations David Huck said: “The outage is the culmination of many months of planning, and we’re delighted that this major feat of engineering is progressing well and is on plan to be to be completed in good time by our contractors BAM Nuttall.
“Our customers were alerted well in advance of the outage and with good planning nine out of 10 of our regular vessel calls have been accommodated using our other lock.
“The completion of the latest phase of these works will provide an even more reliable lock system for our customers, reduce maintenance costs and improve access for our engineering personnel.
“These key assets are essential to the smooth running of the Port. We envisage that these upgrades should ensure the gates are functional for many years to come. Gladstone Lock’s East Inner Gate will be replaced in an identical operation in August, taking overall investment in this area of Liverpool’s infrastructure to £20m.