Liverpool2 is a container terminal extension adjoining the River Mersey in Seaforth, Merseyside. The extension, built by Peel Ports, officially opened on 4 November 2016 and is an expansion of the Seaforth Dock container terminal.^[1]

The groundbreaking ceremony was held on 6 June 2013, with Sir Bobby Charlton and Sir Kenny Dalglish present at the event.^[3] The emplacement of steel pilings commenced from October 2013 utilising 329 piles, weighing 47 tonnes each.^[4] In total, 19,000 tonnes of metalwork was used to form a 30 m (98 ft)-high, and 854 m (2,802 ft)-long, quay wall.^[4]

By July 2014, dredging of a 27 km² (10 sq mi) area of the River Mersey approach channel had been commenced by Van Oord.^[5] The extension was built on reclaimed land using the material dredged from the River Mersey,^[6] with the deepened approach channel providing the necessary clearance for visiting ships.^[7] Construction was delayed by 60 days during winter storms in 2014.^[8] 5.5m tonnes of material was dredged, involving a workforce of 440 specialists.^[9]

The first five ZPMC-built Megamax ship-to-shore cranes were all on the quayside by November 2015, having been delivered from Shanghai, with eight of these cranes ultimately planned for the site.^[10][11][12] The first five cranes were delivered by the ship Zhen Hua 23 [de].^[13] The intended opening date of December 2015 was missed, being moved to the summer of 2016,^[8] and ultimately rescheduled for the autumn.^[14] A first batch of six ZPMC-built cantilever rail-mounted gantry cranes were delivered to the site in May 2016,^[15] arriving from Nantong aboard the ship Zhen Hua 25.^[16] Berthing trials began in June 2016, with MSC vessels participating in the procedures throughout the following months.^[17] A further six gantry cranes were added in October 2016; these being delivered by the ship Zhen Hua 8, also from Nantong.^[11][18] The extension was built at a cost of £400m and ultimately opened on 4 November 2016 by Liam Fox, the Secretary of State for International Trade.^[6][19]

The terminal extension is able to accommodate two 13,500 TEU New-Panamax vessels simultaneously,^[27][28][29] the maximum size that can transit the Panama Canal.^[30] As of 2016, the site is served by five Megamax cranes and twelve cantilever rail-mounted gantry cranes, completing phase one of the development.^[20] The gantry cranes are remotely operated from a control room at the terminal.^[14] The terminal has also gained the most advanced quayside to HGV automated transfer technology in Europe.^[31]

In March 2020, the terminal received its single biggest delivery to date, unloading 5,452 TEUs from MSC Federica;^[32][33] a record which was improved upon in December 2020, with a delivery of 5,956 TEUs by MSC Tamara.^[34] In October 2020, OOCL made Liverpool2 one of the permanent calling points for its trade between Europe and Canada.^[35] Two months later, Maersk and MSC chose to change from using the Port of Felixstowe for their TA2 transatlantic shipping service, in favour of Liverpool2.^[36][37] Around the same time, MSC launched a partnership with GB Railfreight to operate a five-days-a-week rail service between Liverpool2 and the East Midlands.^[36][38]

Consideration has also been given for improved road access to the terminal, from the M57 motorway junction at Switch Island, in order to ease the expected HGV congestion.^[39]

• Port of Southampton container terminal