Logistics experts hail Liverpool Superport strategy

Liverpool's bold plans to significantly upgrade its transport and logistics network has received high praise from industry officials. The Liverpool Daily Post reported that the Merseyside city is looking to create a superport on the bank of the river and has already been given a ringing endorsement by an international specialist who stated that it can help Liverpool challenge the south coast for major contracts. Kieran Ring, chief executive of Dublin-based Global Institute of Logistics, visited the region in early March to deliver a keynote speech and was impressed by the city's commitment to providing improved links to other parts of the country. Liverpool is already in the process of investing around £2 billion on upgrading the transport and logistics network which includes the creation of Peel Ports' £300 million Liverpool2 container terminal. This will be able to put the north-west of England on the map in terms of shipping as it will allow bigger vessels to be accommodated using a widened Panama Canal from 2015 which will also be connected to the Manchester Ship Canal. Speaking to the news provider's business section, Mr Ring said: "I really enjoyed going to Liverpool and I was stunned by it. It all came alive to me and it struck me what would it be like to be in a city that was the world’s number one port? I found myself in a city going back to its roots and I found myself connected to that.” However, while he was impressed by the plans he was sceptical of region's rail links which he described as being "underdeveloped" in comparison to European strongholds likes Rotterdam. Mr Ring concluded though that the superport plan "has potential". Liverpool's Superport strategy is also predicted to make major waves in the employment sector with around 21,000 logistics jobs expected to be created by 2020 and almost 30,000 positions being made available over the next decade. The local economy is also expected to benefit from £6.1 billion in 2020 which can rise to £18.3 billion by 2030.