Peel Ports celebrates business strategy win

Peel Ports has been recognised at this year’s Mersey Maritime awards for its significant contribution to the UK maritime sector’s long-term strategy. The company beat off competition from organisations of all sizes from across the UK to pick up the honour, which was sponsored by Maritime UK.

The Mersey Maritime Industry Awards acknowledge and celebrate the very best of the UK’s maritime industry and are widely recognised as being the leading regional maritime awards in the UK.

The theme for the awards this year was ‘Navigating New Horizons’ reflecting the optimism of new global opportunities for the maritime industry.

Peel Ports’ entry covered its recent achievements across the Maritime 2050 themes of people, UK competitive advantage, technology, trade, environment, infrastructure, and security and resilience.

Highlights of 2019 included:

• Hiring a further 250 staff to accommodate business growth
• Securing a new 15-year deal with major transatlantic shipping line ACL
• Achieving record-breaking 12% year-on-year growth for the Liverpool container business
• Investing £17m in facilities at Birkenhead and £27m at Wellmarsh in Kent
• Major investment by on-site customers including Jenkins and ScottishPower.

Accepting the award on behalf of Peel Ports, David Huck, MD Ports said: “We are leading the way in transforming the UK’s maritime industry with investment in tech and infrastructure allowing us to bring customers innovative solutions. We’re confident that the steps we’ve taken make our business propositions across different sectors and locations especially attractive given the current UK market dynamic.

Over 400 guests attended the awards on Friday 6 March to see accolades handed out to the best of the maritime industry from the Liverpool City Region and across the UK.

The awards, held at the city’s iconic St George’s Hall, are now considered one of the most prestigious events on the national maritime calendar. They were hosted by Louise Minchin with keynote speaker, Commodore Iain S Lower.

Chris Shirling-Rooke, CEO Mersey Maritime said “The Mersey Maritime Industry Awards celebrate the maritime talent and expertise that not only the Liverpool City Region has to offer but also the rest of the UK. The Maritime 2050 award is a national award and recognises a business that has demonstrated commitment to the Government’s Maritime 2050 Strategy, so congratulations to Peel Ports Group. In order for the UK to maintain its global maritime competitive advantage, it is essential for all UK maritime businesses to align to Maritime 2050 and embrace both the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead including technology, innovation, trade, people and skills