TERMINAL PLANNING, DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION TERMINAL PLANNING, DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION Liverpool2: a historic port city revived David Huck, Port Director, Peel Ports Group, Liverpool, UK 300 years ago, Liverpool was at the is a critical determinant in decision- – the cargo owners – by offering a wider forefront of international shipping and making. So, our solution had to be able to range of services supporting the whole trade, with the creation of the world’s meet the market requirements for service supply chain. first enclosed commercial wet dock. The predictability, reliability and turnaround. The port and shipping sectors are often city remained one of the world’s leading Our answer to these challenges has considered to be traditional, hierarchical ports well into the 20th century, but the been the Liverpool2 terminal. This will and conservative industries. We have advent of containerisation and new market provide Liverpool with an additional 1 taken steps to streamline our structure and conditions meant it was overtaken by some million TEU capacity, help us to deal more challenge – indeed remove – some of the of its competitors. effectively with the 26,000 annual vessel ‘old port’ mindset. We have also worked Now, Peel Ports – port authority and movements through the port, and deliver to create a more flexible workforce that operator of the Port of Liverpool – is ‘best in class’ capabilities to our customers. can respond to changes in demand and gearing up for the opening of its new not just respond to customer needs but to US$463m container terminal, Liverpool2. Management approach anticipate them. The development will make maximum For us, it has been fundamental to ensure The single most important action to use of technology and automation to more that we are taking the right management support this has been training with a strong than double the port’s TEU capacity on a approach. Although the physical focus on in-job training. Where we have site much smaller than the current terminal. infrastructure is essential, its performance skills gaps, we recruit new talent, and we Combined with Peel Ports’ other logistical is dependent on two other aspects of have implemented people development assets, including the Manchester Ship port operation: the effectiveness of the plans across the full spectrum of our intake, Canal and the national trimodal import systems and processes in place, as well from apprentices to post-graduates. It will centre at Port Salford, Liverpool2 will open as the quality and training of the people only be with the right people, culture and up a new central gateway for UK trade. managing them. behaviours – managing our physical and Accordingly, there are a number technological assets – that we will realise Challenges of priorities that have influenced our the full potential of our operation. With ever-increasing vessel sizes we decision-making throughout and continue realised that unless we took action by 2015, to guide how we deliver our services. The Construction programme 85% of the global container vessel fleet first is information. As far as possible, For the majority of this project so far, the would not fit into the Port of Liverpool we look to improve both the quality of progress that has been made has remained as the existing Royal Seaforth Terminal information that we manage and how this hidden underwater, as we have worked to is accessed through a lock with a vessel is shared with our customers and clients. reclaim land from the sea. 296 steel piles capacity of 294 metres (length) x 32 Accurate forecasting, real-time exchange have been driven into the seabed, allowing metres (beam) x 11.6 metres (depth) and a and building datasets can make a major the infilling of 1.43 million tonnes of sand channel dredge of 6.9 metres. difference to the efficiency of operations. and silts taken from the Mersey estuary and We therefore had to think beyond the The second is automation – something deposited behind the new quay wall, up to a traditional port boundary, identifying an that the container terminal industry level of 6 metres above ordinary datum. intertidal site that could be reclaimed. has been slow to adopt, despite the The piling process, which began in This, however, would only facilitate a total technologies being advanced, proven and 2014, involved drilling from large jack-up terminal area of 17 hectares in phase one, capable of delivering reliable operational rigs and inserting tubular piles to create a much smaller than the existing terminal, efficiency. The third is customer service new 854 metre long quay wall. The area and construction would have to support a and being ‘more than ports’. We aren’t just behind the wall has also been dredged to 10 metre tidal range, one of the largest in looking to differentiate ourselves on cost bed rock to allow for virgin materials to be the UK. We also understood that terminal and efficiency. The ambition is to provide deposited. The infilling process began in productivity has a critical impact on an experience that really adds value to February this year with the arrival in the supply chains and that port performance shipping lines and our ultimate customers river Mersey of the ‘Willem van Orange’ 70 Edition 68: November 2015 www.porttechnology.org TERMINAL PLANNING, DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION TERMINAL PLANNING, DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION trailer suction hopper dredger. The vessel, customers. The terminal needed to provide at all our container terminals enabling us operated by Dutch specialist Van Oord, additional capacity of around 1 million to standardise our group operations. To has a handling capacity of 10,000m3 TEU on a compact site, achieving over ensure a smooth transition from SPARCS (21,000 tonnes) and took materials from 1,500 container moves in a tidal window, 3.7, and other in-house systems, we are a site 20 miles away from Liverpool2, with allowing STS crane operations of up to 30 rolling out N4 one terminal at a time over each dredging and discharge operation moves per hour in winds of up to 88kmph, the next 3-4 years, beginning with the taking 6.5 hours from beginning to end. and maintain existing landside service existing terminal at the Port of Liverpool The final stages of this first phase of level agreements. We carried out extensive and Liverpool2 itself. construction has seen the installation of modelling over a prolonged period during capping beams, with bollards and fender the planning and design phase to ensure Autogates blocks, the installation and commissioning that we arrived at the optimum solution Another major element of our investment of five new ship-to-shore cranes, as well as for our particular site. in information systems has been the other infrastructure works required for the introduction of Autogates to deliver faster terminal opening. Operating systems turnaround times through a streamlined A further set of considerations related process from landside or quayside entry to Equipment selection to the range of interlinked IT systems exit. The fully automated system, supplied required to ensure the efficient operation and installed by Kalmar and its partners, Planning of the built infrastructure. We took the APS Technology Group, uses state-of-the- Ultimately, the primary issue was to decision to invest in the Navis N4 terminal art identification technologies to manage provide a predictable, repeatable, reliable operation system, using Liverpool2 to gate operations, ensuring that all containers and stable operation that would meet drive change across the whole business, and trucks are automatically identified the needs of our current and future with the TOS planned to be introduced before entering or exiting the terminal. Edition 68: November 2015 71 TERMINAL PLANNING, DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION TERMINAL PLANNING, DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION About the author Based in Liverpool, David Huck heads up the largest operating ports cluster in the Peel Ports Group, which includes its operations in Dublin, Heysham, Liverpool and Manchester. The cluster ports collectively handle Advanced OCR (optical character With semi-automated remote-controlled over 17,000 vessel movements and 48 recognition) and line-scan camera operation, the cranes will reduce the time million tonnes of diverse cargo per technology (automatically detecting seal taken to transfer containers from port to year. David has a career background presence) link with gate operating software road or rail. They will also have the ability including tier one manufacturing that seamlessly integrates to Navis N4 and to operate at speeds in excess of 30mph logistics and port operations our Customer Access Portal (CAP). The and wind speeds of up to 88kmph. management. He holds a BSc (Hons) security process is further completed using In anticipation of their arrival we have in Industrial Engineering and an biometric fingerprint identification to introduced a $772,000 state-of-the- MBA in Industrial Management. further validate driver/load identification art ‘virtual’ training simulator on site, and enhance security. designed to ensure all operators are ready About the organisation Haulier transactions are now fully to manoeuvre the giant structures from day integrated into the N4 system, which one of installation. Working closely with means more secure and efficient visits ABB, we have produced a customised, and minimal turnaround times at our high-tech training simulator tailored to terminals. This process also means that interactively test the abilities and skills of paperwork and leaving the vehicle are drivers by presenting them with realistic, unnecessary, thereby increasing security, operating scenarios. Peel Ports is the UK’s second largest improving safety, reducing risks and saving port group, owning and operating time spent completing manual checks. The future six of the UK and Ireland’s most Our strategy has been to go as far as we important ports.