Long before the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company acquired Medway Ports in 1993 it was a major player in the world of lumber and forest products through the diverse activities of the Port of Liverpool.
Today, the broad range of cargoes accommodated in terminals on both banks of the River Mersey are more than matched by volumes of timber and high value cargoes crossing the quays at Sheerness and Chatham.
Combined volumes passing through the two major gateways amount to more than one million tonnes annually of lumber and its by-products.
The size and scope of Mersey Docks’ timber trade is a reflection of the group’s strategy towards its whole cargo handling operations. Strength in diversity is a philosophy which has served Britain’s second largest port operator well.
The Mersey and Medway adopt an aggressive approach to expansion of existing business, but in both locations there is ready recognition of the virtue in applying expertise to the widest range of cargoes. Such a broad approach not only offers the maximum targets at which to aim, but also provides a valuable cushion against the inevitable vagaries of specific trades.
At Liverpool, one of the most recent developments has involved Far Eastern shipments by the Germany-based operator, Eldon Oldedorff. Cargoes of timber and panel products from Indonesia and Thailand have been channelled through the Mersey as an extension of the line’s regular break bulk carryings, which began with shipments of glass and tissue paper.
Traffic moving on the monthly sailings into the Stanton Grove operated Royal Seaforth Terminal by vessels of between 30,000 and 40,000 gt is expected to grow as the North of England timber trade and Far East shippers recognise the mutual benefits of a Liverpool call.
East Canadian softwood suppliers, once major players across the UK market, currently find it difficult to compete with the Baltic states and Scandinavian producers on either price or quality specification. This assault on the traditional trans-Atlantic trade is reflected in the first Liverpool call by an Arnold Laver vessel, Miniforest, with 2,500m³ of Latvian timber. The service is now scheduled to call at Royal Seaforth every six weeks as pressure on the Canadians hots up with even the Austrian timber industry joining the fray.
However, the Canadians on the West Coast are faring better, moving increased volumes of high value softwood used for door frames, windows, flooring and furniture. Plywood volumes have tended towards the erratic with other supplying regions sniping at the North Americans’ ‘territory’.
A ‘little and often’ philosophy is now adopted by many companies taking advantage of the regular shipments of North American hardwoods and speciality softwoods being landed at Liverpool in containers carried on the Canmar, ICL and ACL services. The steady supply, which enables manufacturers to deal in smaller, almost just-in-time consignments, has also included a number of boxes of North American railway sleepers imported into the UK for the landscaping sector.
Russian timber, plywood and chipboard have started to arrive in the Mersey for the first time in several years, carried by Transways Shipping (UK) Ltd from Archangel. Brazilian timber has also begun to re-emerge in the north-west of England, after a lean time during the second half of 2000, with the first shipment of 2,500m³ moved into Liverpool’s Birkenhead Docks for Interrit.
Birkenhead Docks, on the west bank of the Mersey, has also seen major growth in imports of softwood logs for consumption by panel product manufacturers and paper producers. The logs arrive from sources as diverse as Scotland, Ireland and France – the Scottish shipments taking a ‘green’ waterborne route from ports such as Ardrossan, Campbeltown and Wick, to add yet another element to Liverpool’s annual traffic of nearly half a million tonnes of timber and forest products.
The Baltic states competition experienced in Liverpool is also prevalent at Mersey Docks-owned Medway Ports.
Plywood on the Norsul-Gearbulk joint service to and from Brazil and Argentina has increased at Sheerness which has some 65,000m² of covered storage and another 16 acres of hard standing for lumber. The port’s volumes have also been boosted by the decision of the Caledonian Plywood Company Ltd to base its southern UK distribution operation there. Already a significant player in the South American panel products trade, Caledonian has received its own shipments from the Baltic and the Far East.
Although there has also been growth in the plywood volumes carried on the regular monthly Gearbulk Chile – Europe service into Sheerness, Chilean lumber shippers are facing increased competition from the Baltic states. However, the Chilean suppliers are maintaining their market position on quality and price.
The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company has made major investments in accommodation and equipment to meet the needs of today’s timber trades in both Liverpool and the Medway. In the flexible, multi-trade environment of the Mersey/Medway partnership, facilities are often developed for one traffic, but with a positive knock-on effect for other trade.
At Liverpool’s Royal Seaforth Forest Products Terminal, for instance, a 50,000ft² extension to warehousing for reeled papers, at a cost of £1m, freed up space elsewhere in the port for panel products. Another £750,000 was spent refurbishing quayside cranes on the Royal Seaforth terminal which offers a total of 325,000ft² of covered storage and another 18 acres of open apron for lumber.
Substantial refurbishment is planned at Huskisson Dock to upgrade facilities used by Interport Logistics whose regular traffic includes Latvian and Portuguese pine.
At Sheerness, another £1.5m was spent on the provision of a 150,000ft² warehouse for Brazilian plywood and other forest products.
