Lift-off for Liverpool’s multi-modal hub

Peel Ports Group’s detailed planning application for Phase 2 of the multi-modal logistics hub was approved after all 600,000 sq ft of the first stage was successfully let. Construction is expected to get under way later this year, with the development due for completion in 2009. It will consist of a number of high-bay distribution units ranging in size from 70,000 sq ft to more than 200,000 sq ft, tailored to clients’ needs and served by sea, rail, road and inland barge.

Two of the units will be directly linked by rail, taking advantage of the planned increase in the Port of Liverpool’s rail traffic capacity when work to enhance the links between the docks and the national rail network is completed in December. Liverpool now handles an average of 15 trains a day at its five railheads, moving containers, steel, coal, forest products and scrap metal for recycling. Capacity will be further enhanced when a previously abandoned stretch of track, known as the Olive Mount Cord, is brought back into service.

Frank Robotham, Peel Ports marketing director, said: “Completion of the LIFT project is just one element in the long-term expansion plan for the Port of Liverpool. This expansion anticipates an acceleration of demand for logistics platforms adjacent to the post-Panamax terminal we plan to put into operation during 2011.”