Three ‘megamax’ quayside cranes sailed up the River Mersey at the beginning of December destined for the Liverpool2 container terminal, completing the final stage of their voyage from China.

The cranes are part of the second phase of the Liverpool2 project to provide additional capacity for growing volumes of cargo.

Peel Ports (www.peelports.com) has announced that October was a record-breaking month for its container operations at the Port of Liverpool, with year-on-year growth of 12%.

CEO Mark Whitworth said: “An increasing number of businesses understand that it makes sense to ship products closer to their end destination.

“The investment we have made in these cranes and elsewhere at the port is crucial to providing us with the capacity to meet growing demand, especially with Liverpool handling record container volumes in October.”

The cranes’ superstructures were produced by Chinese company Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co as part of a contract with Peel Ports that is worth over £100 million; this covers eight ship-to-shore megamax cranes and 22 cantilever rail-mounted gantry cranes.

The ‘megamax’ cranes can operate in wind speeds up to 55mph.