We’re fast approaching one of the highlights of the shipping industry calendar, the Mersey Maritime Industry Awards (MMIA), which takes place on Thursday 14th March at the Titanic Hotel, Liverpool. Among the honours that Peel Ports is shortlisted for this year is the Freight and Logistics Award.
Ahead of the ceremony, Chief Operating Officer, Patrick Walters, explains why the past 12 months have been testing but ultimately successful for Peel Ports’ freight and logistics offering in Liverpool, earning the business a place on this year’s shortlist.
It’s fair to say that 2018 was an unprecedented year of uncertainty and turmoil for the freight and logistics sector. IT problems at Felixstowe led to serious backlogs, which quickly spread to other south-east terminals and, with no long-term solution to driver shortages, road and rail congestion in the south, many are predicting that significant delays in southern ports will become a persistent issue.
For the freight and logistics industry and those sectors such as retail, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals, who demand a resilient supply chain, this poses a significant threat.
Because of this backdrop, during 2018 we made a very conscious effort to work with several leading freight and logistics business, to develop new solutions which offer reliability and resilience in the ever-changing political landscape.
With 35 million people in the UK and Ireland – more than half of the total population – living closer to Liverpool than south-east container ports, and approximately 60% of the containers which enter through UK ports destined for the West Midlands or further north, Liverpool offers a more efficient international gateway – it also offers the potential to remove an estimated one million trucks from the road each year, and more than 1600 freight trains from the rail network, reducing related diesel emissions.
Major shipping lines MSC and Maersk are already using Liverpool2 for UK containerised cargo and with a growing proportion of the UK’s logistics and warehousing facilities based in the North and the Midlands, there are multiple benefits to containers arriving at Liverpool.
Significant milestones for our business during 2018 included:
- The launch a new regular rail freight service between Liverpool and Scotland; so far transporting over 2500 containers and removing more than 500,000 road miles from the road network
- The addition of another deep-sea service at the Port of Liverpool, and double-digit growth in container volumes over the year
- First direct call from China
- Welcoming the biggest container ship to visit Liverpool to date
- Welcoming our first container ship direct from China
- Welcomed the biggest container ship to visit Liverpool to date
During 2018 several prominent businesses have added their support to Liverpool2 as an arrival point for international imports, including Logiport, Einhell UK, MA Logistics and Mersey Forwarding.
Through working closely with customers in the freight and logistics sector Peel Ports has adapted to the changing political landscape and customer needs, and further enhanced the offering at the Port of Liverpool to the port as a competitive route to international markets and a major port for global trade.
In sum, we can safely say that we are leading the way in bringing enhanced resilience and efficiency to the supply chain. By offering a viable, and in many ways more efficient, alternative to southern ports, The Port of Liverpool is supporting much needed change in the freight and logistics sector which will ultimately reduce costs, road miles and carbon emissions.
To find out more on the Port of Liverpool, click HERE.
To find out more on Mersey Maritime, click HERE.
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