UK importers and exporters will benefit from a new deep water shipping terminal which has been officially opened at the Port of Liverpool by International Trade Secretary Liam Fox.

This Liverpool2 facility is one of the UK’s largest private sector infrastructure projects and represents a £400M investment by port operator Peel Ports.

The new terminal is able to handle the biggest cargo vessels in the world and boasts road, rail and canal connections linking directly to a catchment of over 35M people.

“Our investment will help global shippers to transport cargo more efficiently to their end destination with lower costs, congestion and carbon emissions,” said Peel Ports chief executive Mark Whitworth, who is pictured on the left with Liam Fox. “Liverpool 2 will create a new trading gateway into the UK.”

The facility complements the existing Royal Seaforth Container Terminal at the Port of Liverpool, with each having capacity to handle around one million containers every year. Its opening is expected to increase Liverpool’s share of the container market in the UK from 8% to between 15 and 20%.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said: “Exporting is vital to the economic health of our nation. This investment at Liverpool2 will boost crucial cargo capacity and create local jobs.

“Liverpool is ideally located to increase our trade with countries west of the UK, including the US, Canada and South America, and this new port opens up even more opportunities with new markets and export destinations for UK businesses.”

Construction of Liverpool2 has seen a site of around 160,000m² reclaimed from the sea, with land created from 5.5.Mt of sand and silt dredged from the River Mersey.