Liverpool

[John Arton]

For anyone interested this is a time lapse video of a day in the life of Liverpool put out by Peel Ports, though if they think Liverpool is busy they should look at Rotterdam or Antwerp.
rgds
JA
http://http://p.feedblitz.com/r3.asp...5001&c=4708408

[Doc Vernon]

When trying to Open that Link all I get is this message!

"Internet Settings are turned off by default"

Then Blank Page!
Cheers

[Peter F Chard]

Ports of Auckland have a similar display in the reception area of their Head Office building at Ferguson Wharf, three large curved LCD screens showing all the straddle carriers in action, the container cranes and the berthing and sailing of all the ship visits. Visitors actually watch rather than read the out of date magazines that are scattered around. Even an old sea dog like me enjoys watching !! Regards Peter in NZ.

[Jim Brady]

It sounds like the pile driving has started on the new river berth.The video "The Port Never Sleeps" there will be a few complaints if the pile driving goes on 24/7 its not to bad where I am but there are people who live closer.I wonder if John Pruden and RLT can hear it.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[John Pruden]

yes jim must be Larson piles{interlocking} we can here the piling hammer often during the day but not bothering us.jp

[Jim Brady]

Did you read the local free paper John the cranes are coming from China.A total of five ship-to-shore megamax cranes and 12 cantilever rail mounted gantry cranes followed by 13 more cranes all capable of lifting 50 tonnes of cargo.ZPMC,the largest heavy-duty equipment manufacturer in the world,has chosen to site its UK service centre in Liverpool,to coincide with the arrival of the cranes in 2015.Navis N4 terminal operating system,the facility will dramatically cut transfer time from port to road or rail maximising productivity.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Colin Hawken]

If people wan't their port to be successful they may have to put up with a bit of noise.We did.Our Container Berths now take the World's biggest at any state of the Tide. Worth a bit of noise,I think.

[Captain Kong]

But why do we have to have cranes built in China and hauled half way across the world to Liverpool. ?
I bet Cammell Lairds could have built them. What happened to Stothert and Pitt who used to build dock side cranes, ??
Brian.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Unfortunately Stothert and Pitt fell by the wayside in the 70's as crane builders and were reduced to making crane rails and fitments. A lot of other 'wise' companies all over Europe/UK decided to take advantage of the cheap labour that China offered. These companies must have forgotten that the Chinese were very clever and innovative throughout history, they also forgot the example of Japan whom the industrial west considered a nation of copiers and never originators, even us uneducated seamen who visited there in the 50's loaded ourselves with radios, watches, binoculars etc because they were superior to what we could get for the same money in the west. Those of us who drydocked there also noted the organised and efficient way repairs were carried out, each trade having a different coloured helmet, top man in each trade having same colour with a white stripe and bosses having distinctive helmets, China went the same way and Taiwan before them. Did all these 'wise' people think that China was going to remain a nation of copiers, or were they blinkered by the short term high profits to be made from employing cheap labour, history has proved them blinkered. I used to sell equipment to China in the 80's and soon learnt, sell them one and you'll never get another order, as they'll strip it down, copy it, rebrand it, and put it on the market at less than half the price of yours, trade marks and copyright meant nothing to the Chinese and still don't. I know companies who have sold goods to China with general arrangement plans and instruction manuals and Chinese have politely asked for workshop drawings (something you never send) as they have not understood manual and the wise men have sent them. Not only was the UK full of wise men, other countries were too.

[Ron Kendall]

Stothert and Pitt, were taken over by Clarke Chapman, as were Cowans Sheldon of Carlisle. both now not manufacturing. Cowans Sheldon designed and built in 1925 cranes with 12 ton grabs for unloading iron ore at Middlesborough, which looked remarkably like todays container cranes built in China. looks like we lost out again!