Peel Ports Mersey

Peel Ports Mersey
Maritime Centre
Port of Liverpool
L21 1LA

Tel: 0151 949 6000
Fax: 0151 949 6300
www.merseydocks.co.uk

Liverpool is ranked among Britain's and Northern Europe's major container ports and handles nearly 700,000 teus (20ft container units) a year.

The Port maintains its traditional prominence in Britain's container trade with North America while expanding its global routes and now serves more than 100+ non-EU destinations from China to India, Africa, Australia, the Middle East and South America. Liverpool is the UK's leading gateway for imports of grain and animal feed, for the export of recycled metal and the movement of freight between Britain and Ireland.

Other commodities handled on the 1,200 acres of operational docks on both banks of the River Mersey include timber and forest products – some of it delivered on daily trains from Germany and Italy via the Channel Tunnel – approximately 11 million tonnes of crude oil for Shell's Stanlow Refinery in Cheshire, imports of coal amounting to 3 million tonnes a year, nearly 1 million tonnes of edible oils and fats, cocoa, steel, copper, aluminium and other metals, granite, chemicals and general cargo, plus approaching three quarters of a million people travelling on Irish Sea ferry services and the growing number of cruise ships embarking passengers and making day calls at the port.

Liverpool is planning a second container terminal to be built in the River Mersey at a cost of £100 million and able to simultaneously accommodate two of the new generation post-Panamax container ships. The new facility, capable of handling 500,000 teus a year, will almost double Liverpool's container capacity to nearly 1,500,000 teus.

The Port's cruise trade which has been developed from an initial 3 sailings in 1992 to 40 planned for the 2009 season, received a major boost with the official opening in late 2007, of a new cruise terminal enabling the largest ships to berth alongside Liverpool's iconic Pier Head.

The Port of Liverpool is also home to the UK's largest free zone, Liverpool Freeport, accommodated in more than 3 million square feet of warehousing with another 400,000 sq ft planned, bringing the port's total logistics accommodation to more than 4 million sq ft.