Country England Owner The Peel Group | Owned by Peel Ports Opened 2016 | |
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Port Salford is a freight terminal located on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Barton-upon-Irwell in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Manchester city centre. The port is part of the Atlantic Gateway project and its construction was led by Peel Ports, a subsidiary of The Peel Group and was opened in 2016.
Contents
Port Salford cost £400 million to construct with the transportation of goods from the terminal distributed via heavy rail, of which 18 freight trains are used every 24 hours to handle the volume of goods.
Port Salford is the first tri-modal (sea, road and rail) inland port in the UK.
Background
Port Salford is based on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal, the only ship canal in the United Kingdom and the eighth longest in the world. The canal connects Manchester, a national city of cultural and economic significance, to the Irish Sea. The Ship Canal was completed in 1894 and designed to give Manchester unhindered access to the sea. At its peak in the 1960s, the Manchester Docks were the third busiest in the United Kingdom.
Development
The Port is located near key sites for distribution of goods such as Manchester and Trafford Park. Construction tenders were handed out in March 2011 and building of the Port began in 2013.
Western Gateway Infrastructure Scheme
As part of the Western Gateway Infrastructure Scheme (WGIS), a new link road was constructed in connection with the Port. The existing A57 road was redirected closer to the Salford City Stadium, and a mile-long new dual carriageway link to Trafford Way and a new lift bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal was constructed to the east of the M60 bridge.
On Monday May 16, 2016, a new vertical lift bridge spanning the Manchester Ship Canal as part of the WGIS works at Barton collapsed. No one was injured and the damaged bridge deck fell blocking the span and left a cargo vessel, Arklow Vale, stuck at Eccles unable to pass back down the canal.
WGIS involves significant highway works around the M60 motorway, both in Salford and in Trafford, as well as a new rail link from the Liverpool-Manchester railway line (Chat Moss corridor) into the Port Salford intermodal freight interchange.
The contract for WGIS was awarded to Hochtief and the Buckingham Group in December 2012 and construction began in January 2013 for completion in 2016.