This week’s topic is Liverpool2. Liverpool2 is a massive new container terminal being built in Liverpool. The terminal is due for completion in the second half of this year. Liverpool2 will be the first automated container terminal in the whole of Europe.

So what will this mean for container stock levels?

With an extra container terminal, it means we will have even more space in the UK to transport the containers from overseas into our ports. With more space to transport, the number of containers will increase dramatically. The terminal will eventually grow big enough to allow for ships carrying up to 13500 containers to offload in UK docks.  The first phase of the design of Liverpool2 is limited to fewer than 3500 containers. 

Liverpool2 will be designed to eventually deal with the world’s largest container ships. It also means that container ships can go directly to liverpool2 rather than having to shunt containers from southern seaports in the UK such as Felixstowe.  This will significantly increase the amount of available stock in the northern parts of England. The port’s capacity will gradually increase from 3500 containers to 13500 containers, and by 2019 it is estimated to hold 2.4million containers. 

The terminal will be the most central container terminal in the UK.  This means that container stock levels all over the UK will increase. It will also reduce the transportation time involved with getting containers from one part of the UK to another.

In summary, there will be a big increase in container stock by the end of 2015. Container stock will also be in various harbours rather than being in mass inventory in one area. We can also expect the amount of stock to increase consistently over the years.