#ports - A UK ports operator the Peel Ports Group has received the ‘Freight & Logistics’ category prize at the prestigious Mersey Maritime Industry Awards held in Liverpool.

Over 400 guests attended the annual event last Thursday where accolades were handed out to the best of the maritime industry from the Liverpool City Region and across the UK.

2018 was a year of significant milestones for Peel Ports, especially its container division in Liverpool, including a first direct call from China, its biggest container ship to date, a new rail freight service and a double-digit growth.

Accepting the award in Liverpool on behalf of Peel Ports, Chief Operating Officer, Patrick Walters said: “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 that will ultimately reduce costs, road miles and carbon emissions.”

The company has also secured a new 2M permanent transatlantic container service, the Canadian Express service connecting southern European Ports with Liverpool and ultimately Canada, as well as continued growth with key customers and national retailers such as B&M. Peel Ports is set to bring 250 new staff on board during 2019 in anticipation of new commercial opportunities.

For further information on Mersey Maritime, click here. 

In addition to UK ports, Afloat adds the group also operates the MTL Terminal in Dublin Port with connections to the UK, the Netherlands, France, Iberia and onwards worldwide. The container terminal which has an annual throughput of 170,000 TEU is located on the South Bank Quay adjacent to the Poolbeg Y&BC in Ringsend. 

#FerryNews - A new ferry terminal for Isle of Man services, BBC News reports could cost up to £30m and open in Liverpool in 2021, the Manx government said.

It will be built half a mile (800m) from the current Pier Head facility at Princes Half-Tide Dock.

Subject to Tynwald approval, the Manx government will sign a long-term leasehold agreement with Peel Land and Property Limited for the site.

Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said: "It will cement our strong links with the Isle of Man. I'm delighted."

The existing Pier Head facility is set for a major redevelopment as a cruise liner berth as part of the £5bn Liverpool's Waterfront scheme.

More on the story click here.

#FerryNews - A first for P&O Ferrymasters as the logistics supplies-chain operator opened a warehouse facility in the UK located in the Port of Liverpool.

According to MultiModal, P&O Ferrymasters has further expanded its supply chain network by opening the 800 square metre warehouse in Liverpool docks ferryport. Afloat adds the English north-west is part of the Peel Ports Group (see report on rival UK ports group, ABP).

The warehouse support its customers with cross-docking operations and feed its connection with P&O Ferries’ Liverpool-Dublin sailings which Afloat adds is served by a trio of ferries. They are ropax sisters, Norbank and Norbay and the larger passenger orientated European Endeavour. The company is a division of P&O Ferries, which sails on eight major routes between Ireland and the UK, Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

The warehouse - which will be open 24 hours a day and comprise eight loading bays supporting trailer and container operations - will give the logistics company an increased capacity to handle the projected uplift in daily full and part-load shipments across the Irish Sea. It will also support daily groupage and cross-docking operations, where loads from more than one customer are consolidated.

Andy Apsley, P&O Ferrymasters’ General Manager Ireland, said:“Following feedback from our customer base, we are introducing a cross-docking facility at Liverpool Port which will enable all customers to benefit from our portside location, streamline their logistical requirements and ultimately reduce their costs. Industry-leading IT systems such as load and cost optimisation and track and trace visibility will further enhance the customer experience.

“We manage more than 800 trailer movements a week into and out of the United Kingdom and our unique value proposition is being able to offer our customers – who come from all sectors including retail, fast moving consumer goods, automotive, and horticulture – a seamless, reliable and punctual service between Ireland, Britain and continental Europe.”

P&O Ferrymasters is a pan-European provider of logistics solutions. The company serves 20 strategic locations in 12 countries across the continent, operating integrated road, rail and sea links via a fleet of 4,000 trailers and containers. They also owns a rail terminal in the Romanian city of Oradea, which facilitates the onward movement of goods to Britain from Asian countries via the Silk Road.

#rail&sail - Peel Ports operators of the Port of Liverpool is set to launch a new rail container service for its customers using the large north-west English port.

The company is in advanced contract discussions with both a rail provider and shippers, with the aim of running the first services before the end of 2017.

It is the first time Peel Ports has offered an integrated package, giving shippers a seamless route to market, from quayside to any UK destination served by major rail lines, or vice versa.

The service was presented during the recent London International Shipping Week (LISW17) hosted at the Lloyds Building by Peel Ports, where leading figures in the UK retail and logistics community will gather to discuss the importance of integration in improving supply chain efficiency.

Peel Ports is also backing calls from Liverpool Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram for significant investment in the Victorian-era rail infrastructure serving the east-west corridor.

Gary Hodgson, Strategic Projects Director, said: “We have long prided ourselves on being more than just a network of ports providing excellent access to markets around the Irish Sea and close to the heart of the UK. This is the next step in our journey to provide shippers with a more integrated, end-to-end answer for their cargo needs. It’s also an important milestone in our evolution as a company and underlines how serious we are about being a genuine partner in the supply chain community.”

He added: “There are generally good connections on routes heading north and south, but cross-country is a real problem. It’s long overdue that the east-west infrastructure was brought into the 21st century so we can expand rail freight usage and reduce the impact of longer-distance road haulage.”

Jerome Wildsmith, Head of Supply Chain at retailer B&M, added: “Good value is at the heart of our consumer offering so a flexible and lean operation is critical to our business model. Routing through the Port of Liverpool has already saved us the equivalent of 4 million road miles, massively cutting our onward transport costs, reducing the carbon emitted and reducing the likelihood of delays on the UK network. We are excited about the possibilities that this new service will provide our business for achieving even more efficiency gains for our growing operation.”

The new service will complement Liverpool’s wider logistics offering, such as multi-user warehousing, as Peel Ports continues its strategy of operating within the wider supply chain sector. The available train path capacity directly to and from the Port of Liverpool is currently amongst the highest of all major ports within the UK, providing expansion options for importers and exporters that also minimise cost, congestion and carbon emissions.

Liverpool is already used to supply biomass to the Drax power station in North Yorkshire via the trans-Pennine route. The port is also within 25 miles of the West Coast Main Line, providing efficient access and journey times to markets in Scotland, the Midlands and the South-east. For intermodal traffic, the port has W10 gauge clearance capability, allowing 9ft 6in containers to be conveyed on standard deck height rail wagons. For further information about the Liverpool rail container service visit our rails services page below.

#MaerskDublin - Danish container giant, Maersk is set to return to the Port of Liverpool writes Lloyds Loading List, after more than a decade hiatus through its intra-European shortsea subsidiary Seago Line. 

From April, feeder specialist Seago Line will provide a direct service between the British Isles and Spanish transhipment hub Algeciras, where customers will be connected to markets in North Africa and the Mediterranean.

The new Seago service will also call at the port of Dublin, representing the Maersk Group’s first ever direct call in the Irish capital. This will supplement the existing Latin American service to Cork operated by sister carrier Maersk Line and provide shippers with an alternative from the current feeder option from Rotterdam in Europe’s northern range.

In a joint statement, Maersk Line and Seago said the new service will allow for “easier access to other trades and helps sister companies Maersk Line and Safmarine deliver for their customers in the North West of England and Ireland”.

For more on the group's return to Merseyside and operations to Dublin Port next month, click here.

#BattleofAtlantic- For five days, Liverpool is to host the 70th and final UK anniversary commemoration of the Battle of the Atlantic between Friday 24 to Tuesday 28 May.

In total there are 25 naval ships calling at the Liverpool Cruise Terminal and at Albert and Canning Docks, with several of these vessels made open to visitors. Naval vessels from the UK, Canada, Germany, Italy, Russia and the US will represent both sides of the conflict which ran the entire length of the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945.

On the final day of the event, Tuesday 28 May, all visiting ships will depart in a coordinated parade on the Mersey. To take part in the maritime spectacle, Mersey Ferries will be joining the flotilla and will follow the ships as they head out of the Mersey. On board the excursion cruise, a Blue Badge Guide will provide live commentary.

Mersey Ferries are to provide two ferries for the Farewell Cruise. The following are departure times for the farewell cruises are as follows: Departing Liverpool at 1.00pm and the other cruises are scheduled to depart Seacombe also 1.00pm and from Woodside at 1.15pm.

Ticket price for the Farewell Cruise are £25.00 per person. Each cruise is approximately 3-4 hours (duration time may vary).

In addition Mersey Ferries are to offer guaranteed parking spaces at both Seacombe and Woodside with a charge of £5.00 per car (noting spaces are limited).

For further details and how to book online visit: www.merseyferries.co.uk/content/Cruises/Cruisedates.aspx