Launched at the end of the year, Port of Liverpool’s rail freight container service marks the first time that Peel Ports Group has offered a freight package, “giving shippers a seamless route to market, from quayside to any UK destination served by major rail lines, or vice versa”, said strategic projects director Gary Hodgson.
“The service was presented at a London International Shipping Week event hosted by Peel Ports at the Lloyds Building, where leading figures in the logistics community discussed the importance of integration in improving supply chain efficiency,” said Mr Hodgson.
“We have long prided ourselves on being more than just a network of ports providing access to markets around the Irish Sea and close to the heart of the UK,” said Mr Hodgson.
“This is the next step in our journey to provide shippers with a more integrated, end-to-end answer for their cargo needs. It’s also an important milestone in our evolution as a company and underlines how serious we are about being a genuine partner in the supply chain community.”
To underpin the new service, Peel Ports is also backing calls for significant investment in the Victorian-era rail infrastructure serving the east-west corridor.
“There are generally good connections on routes heading north and south, but cross-country is a real problem,” said Mr. Hodgson.
“It’s long overdue that the east-west infrastructure is brought into this century so we can expand rail freight usage and reduce the impact of longer-distance road haulage.”
He added that the available train path capacity directly to and from Port of Liverpool is currently among the highest of all major ports within the UK, “providing expansion options for importers and exporters that also minimise cost, congestion and carbon emissions”.
Peel Ports said that potential users of the new service included Liverpool’s timber and wood products customer base, adding that it complements the port’s wider logistics offering, such as multi-user warehousing.
