Work Starts on Port of Liverpool
Over the next two years a number of dredging campaigns will remove more than a million cubic meters of material to create a new deepwater channel at the Port of Liverpool England operated by Peel Ports. The channel will create a deep berthing pocket to secure access to the developing container terminal project Liverpool2.
Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. will do the initial dredging with trailing suction hopper dredges WD Mersey and Sospan Dau. Then Van Oord will take over with water injection dredging using the Jetsed followed by the large backhoe Goliath and cutter suction dredge Artemis. The dredge work is funded by a £35-million (about $53.5-million) UK Government Regional Growth Fund grant.
Liverpool2 dredging will remove 1.2 million cubic meters (about 1.57 cubic yards) of material with 600000 cubic meters (about 785000 cubic yards) to reclaim for beneficial use and 200000 cubic meters (about 261600 cubic yards) will return to nature as a result of the water injection dredging. For the approach channel dredges will remove 4.7 million cubic meters (about 6.15 million cubic yards) of material. The channel is estimated to produce 900000 cubic meters (about 1.2 million cubic yards) of good quality sand to be used for restoration with 500000 cubic meters (about 654000 cubic yards) going to replenish the depleted Taylors and Formby riverbanks. The balance of material will be deposited in the offshore deposit grounds.
The Port of Liverpool is the UK’s leading west coast port. When completed in 2015 the port’s new terminal will accommodate two of the new breed of post Panamax container ships at one time. The £300 million investment in the port directly connects the northern half of the UK and Ireland with an annual market estimated at around four million TEUs.
Liverpool2 will connect directly to a number of port centric logistics hubs along the Manchester Ship Canal via barge – developing the UK’s first “green logistics hub” which will reduce costs congestion and carbon footprint for businesses located in the North West of England serving the north of the UK.
Liverpool2 is the key project in the Mersey Ports Master Plan the 20-year vision for growth and future developments at the Port of Liverpool and on the Manchester Ship Canal – launched by Peel Ports last year. Peel Ports which also runs the Manchester Ship Canal holds the Containerisation International Port Authority of the Year title for its 2012 work in Liverpool.
The overall construction work includes a new 854-meter quay wall the in-filling of the newly created land-mass the dredging of a new 16.5-meter deep berthing pocket adjacent to the quay wall the installation of ship to shore quay cranes and modern cantilever rail mounted gantry cranes (CRMGs) and associated supporting infrastructure works.
