Costing £300 million, and promising 5,000 new jobs at the Port and in the supply chain,  a brand new in-river container port known as Liverpool 2 is due to be built by 2015, with jobs coming on-stream as soon as the licences are approved. The new facility will add a further half-a-million containers (TEUs) annually to the Port of Liverpool, taking its capacity toward two million TEUs in all.

These are exciting times for the Port, and Managing Director Gary Hodgson sees the formal consultation period between now and the MMO’s decision in December as critically important. He said: “The three licences cover navigation issues in the river during the construction of the new Port plus our plans for managing the material we dredge and environmental considerations. We have taken great care to anticipate potential objections but we operate in an extremely competitive marketplace and it is not unknown for rivals to raise objections at the eleventh hour, causing applicants extra cost and delay. If that happens we want to ensure we have the backing of our local community and influential business figures and politicians. So much is at stake and I’d like this to be a real cause celebre.”

He added: “Government is crying out for private business to invest in new infrastructure to kick-start the economy and boost international trade and there are few better examples in the UK than this development”

To raise the profile of Liverpool 2, the Port is taking the message to the heart of Government with an exhibition stand at the recent Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham and a determined campaign to inform MPs and MEPs of all parties about its investment programme. Group Business Development Director Dennis Henderson led a team of senior managers at Birmingham and was delighted with the results. He said: “Our main aim was to meet new Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, which we did on several occasions. He accepted an invitation to come and see the new development first hand and we’ll be following that up urgently. However, we also spoke to several other influential players, including Iain Duncan Smith, William Hague (in main picture), Chris Grayling and Phillip Hammond and they all expressed real interest in our proposals.”

Gary Hodgson added: “The MMO consultation ends on 5th November and assuming we get no serious delays, we expect to get the formal go ahead early in December. That means we’ll see activity and new employment on site from the start of next year, with a completion date of 2015 very much in our sights.”

Both Liebherr cranes were launched by Freightliner Ltd at a ceremony on the 15th October in Freightliner’s Southampton Marine Terminal. The cranes have been named Freightliner Fortis 15-10-2012 and Freightliner Agilitas 15-10-2012. The names represent strength, power, easy of movement and efficiency that the new cranes bring to Freightliner Ltd.’s operations at Southampton.

Freightliner Ltd is the UK’s largest rail freight operator with 81% market share of all deepsea maritime containers that enter the UK. Freightliner operate from all the major deepsea ports to 14 mainland UK destinations, nine of which are owned and operated by the company. The investments in these new cranes by Freightliner follow other Liebherr crane installations at the company’s Birmingham and Manchester terminals in 2009 and 2008.

Liebherr commented

“We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to continue our working relationship with Freightliner by supplying these RMGs to their Maritime terminal in Southampton, and are very happy with the names they have chosen for the cranes. The names and the values they represent; strength, power, ease of movement and efficiency are at the heart of every Liebherr Crane and it is pleasing to see these values being honoured in such a manner.

Freightliner Ltd.’s Southampton Maritime Terminal is a busy, active terminal and so commissioning had to be completed quickly with minimum of fuss. All Liebherr cranes are shipped in large pre-assembled pieces and assembled on site. The drive systems and motors are assembled and comprehensively tested in our factory before they leave for installation and commissioning. This method of shipping and testing ensures a speedy and thorough installation.”

The Liebherr RMG’s have a span of 42.00m with an operational outreach of 21m on the wide leg side and each crane will be capable of spanning 13 lanes. Lift height is 16.90m and safe working load is 40 tonnes under telescopic spreader. Each crane trolley is capable of slewing within a ±1900   range.

The Hoist has a speed of 23m/sec when fully loaded and 52m/sec under empty spreader. The crane will trolley at a speed of 70m/min when fully loaded and has a top travel speed of 100m/min.

The New Liebherr RMG’s will operate within a stone’s throw from DPWorld Southampton which features six (6) megamax Liebherr ship to shore cranes.

On the Hyundai Ambition, the company’s D Team handle 651 moves (54.25 crane moves per hour) on quay crane 29 during a 12-hour night shift. Chris Lewis, Managing Director, DP World Southampton, said, “This was an excellent achievement during ‘non-ideal’ weather conditions where high winds and rain had closed other ports during the day.

“We have broken our own personal best record (previously 603 moves on the Hyundai Together) and set another UK first last night (Tuesday 16 October).”

The Hyundai Ambition is one of a new fleet of ultra large container ships carrying 13,200 TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) which is deployed on the G6 loop 4 Service from Asia to Europe.

Chris continued: “Larger ships need higher productivity but more than that our customers need consistent high productivity. 

“Reliability is a vital part of the supply chain and at DP World Southampton we have focused all our efforts to provide a fast, reliable and secure service.

“This is another great example of how our staff are committed to raising the bar and making Southampton the best it can be.”

DP World Southampton now averages 28 mph (moves per hour)across all vessels and has seen vessel productivity increase by 32% in just two years making it one of the most productive terminals in Northern Europe.

Lewis added: “At a time when shipping lines are bringing even bigger ships into service, it is recognised throughout the industry that shipside and landside productivity is a key focus for terminals. 

This new record comes just after Associated British Ports has started work on a £150 million pound project to create a new deep-water facility at Southampton.

The new berth which will be operational from 2014 will be capable of handling vessels of 16,000 TEU+.

 The new berth development underscores Southampton’s position as the first and last deep-sea port of call in Northern Europe for the Far East, with its sheltered location, first-class road and rail distribution links to the Midlands and market-leading service and productivity.

Photo shows:  Hyundai Ambition alongside at DP World Southampton where the terminal set another UK record, handling 651 moves (54.25mph) on a single crane in a 12-hour shift.

The BEST-Pamplona Express service connects BEST with cargo from Pamplona and the surrounding region, including from the Iberian Peninsula.  Shippers and logistics operators in Pamplona will have access to the same services as if they were in the Port of Barcelona, such as Customs inspection services, consolidation and de-consolidation  services, and container depot services.  The BEST-Pamplona Express runs three weekly connections in each direction between the Pamplona (Noain) rail terminal and BEST.  The trains have a capacity of 62 TEU with a transit time of 20 hours.

The Pamplona terminal has excellent connections to transport cargo from and destined for Navarra, Basque, La Rioja and southwestern France. 

BEST operates the country’s largest dock rail terminal with eight tracks of 750 metres, making the Port of Barcelona an important gateway for cargo enroute to south and central Europe.