THE Port of Liverpool has been granted its licences to begin work on its £300m Liverpool2 expansion next month.
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) issued Peel Ports the necessary permissions to start work on dredging the river and clearing the site at the Seaforth Gladstone Dock terminal ahead of the construction of a new in-river facility which will be capable of handling the biggest container ships in the world when it opens in 2015.
The Liverpool2 scheme is expected to deliver 5,000 new jobs at the port and in the supply chain, and it is likely that jobs will start to come on-stream immediately, the port said.
The new facility will add a further half-a-million containers annually to the Port of Liverpool, taking its capacity toward two million level in all.
Peel Ports Mersey managing director Gary Hodgson said: “Today’s news is a fantastic boost, not just for Peel Ports, but for the whole of the North West region.
“Liverpool2 is a transformational investment which will generate sustainable employment and prosperity across the region.”
He added: “The UK Government is crying out for private business to invest in new infrastructure to kick-start the economy and boost international trade, and there are few better examples of this than Liverpool2.”
Earlier this week Peel Ports also announced it had been successful in completing a £1.6bn refinancing deal which will fund the Liverpool2 scheme and associated works such as new warehousing and storage systems.
