#ports&shipping - On the Irish Sea the Port of Liverpool now has the world’s top five shipping lines all now calling on Merseyside following confirmation that Chinese giant COSCO Shipping is to ship via the port.

COSCO (Chinese Ocean Shipping Company) according to Peel Ports Group which includes Liverpool, will take slots on an existing Canadian service via Montreal with Orient Overseas Container Lines (OOCL). COSCO joins MSC, Maersk, CMA and Hapag in starting or growing a presence in Liverpool.

The decision follows a successful trial by COSCO Shipping in October, since when MSC has also introduced a new call to Liverpool, as part of a rotation including Canada, Turkey and various southern European ports.

This is the third major line announcement for Liverpool in the last few months, as the 2M shipping alliance confirmed at the end of 2018 that the English north-west port will be a permanent call on its TA4 transatlantic service.

Peel Ports also announced in February that it was aiming to create 250 jobs, mostly in Liverpool, to deal with continued business growth.