At the Port of Liverpool, part of the Peel Ports Group, is to extend its steel and metals terminal in response to strong growth in customer demand at the north-west England port.

The UK’s second largest port operator began construction of the 20,000 square foot extended warehouse at its North 3 Canada Dock earlier this year

The group’s investment comes as the Port of Liverpool enjoyed one of its busiest months for steel volumes in September, with more than 75,000 tonnes handled by staff across the port and Birkenhead Docks.

It is the port’s busiest month for steel in more than two years, when 93,000 tonnes were handled at the site in July 2021.

An initial 8,000 square foot of the newly created warehouse space is already in use, with a second phase of construction work to build an extra 12,000 square foot of the terminal ongoing and will be completed in December.

Phil Hall, Mersey Ports Director at Peel Ports Group said: “We’re really pleased to have seen such an increase in demand for steel handling at our port in recent months.

“This positive news led to us choosing to increase the size of our facility, which offers customers the chance to expand their capacity, as well as improving our handling facilities at the port.

“Given the benefits of the Port of Liverpool’s central location, and its proximity to UK manufacturing sites, we believe this will be a very important and worthwhile investment.”

The site now has 280,000 square foot of internal storage, as well as 100,000 square foot of external footage. It also has a total throughput capacity of in excess of 600,000 tonnes annually.

The facility was once the UK’s first fully-automated steel terminal following a £9m upgrade in 2016.

Real time stock availability, precision coil selection and a vehicle booking system has minimised back office processing and paperwork, handling, as well as haulier turn-around time since its completion.