The owner of the Port of Liverpool, Peel Ports, is investing heavily in the expansion of the site. With a growing capacity for freight, so too does port access need to grow. A study has found that rail, rather than the road, may be a good way to facilitate that.
Peel Ports has invested 400 million pounds in building Liverpool2. The goal is to build one of Europe’s most advanced container terminals servicing large vessels. It would be able to unload two 380-metre vessels simultaneously. Peel Ports is also planning to invest 100 million pounds in the steel and metal sector, with a 140.000 square-feet storage facility in the works.
The expansion will require measures to improve port access. After all, the additional freight will have to enter and leave the port grounds somehow. Setting up a highway project is an option, but rail could offer an automated, electrically powered solution at a hub, according to a Greengauge 21 study that explored ways of improving port access. Choosing rail over road could also prevent additional strain on the local road network.
It is currently estimated that just 2% of containerised freight in the Port of Liverpool is moved via rail, according to Greengauge 21. This is very little compared to other UK ports, so there is room for growth.
Bottleneck Manchester
Rail freight growth still depends on a resolution of problems elsewhere on the rail network. Capacity remains limited. There is no plan in place, for instance, to resolve the problem of providing train paths for freight transiting east-west across Manchester with, the study notes.
“The Manchester rail network is a bottleneck which isn’t addressed by the Trans Pennine Route Upgrade (TRU), nor – as far as rail freight is concerned – by schemes such as Stage 2 of Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) – the proposed new Liverpool-Manchester rail link”, explained Greengauge 21 Director Jim Steer.
However, the study also concludes that a new (yet existing) freight route north of Manchester could be used to accommodate Liverpool port traffic. This could generate a large freight catchment area across the whole of northern England.
“The potential ‘new’ routes for freight would require targeted investment in the existing rail network and, it is estimated, could be capable of delivery within a 5-10 year period”, Steer added. “The key concept is using a route via Blackburn both to access the Settle & Carlisle line — avoiding the busy West Coast Main Line for freight flows between the port and Scotland — and to access the Calder Valley Line which effectively links the port with the key rail freight/logistics terminals in Yorkshire/Humber & the North East.”
