More boaters to visit Liverpool waterfront

Since the Liverpool Link opened in 2009, the city has become increasingly popular and central visitor moorings harder to secure at busy times. Boaters have asked for more slots to travel through the link and a recent consultation endorsed plans to expand opportunities for travelling and staying in the city.

Chantelle Seaborn, North West waterway manager with the Canal & River Trust, said: “We received more than 60 responses and there was overwhelming support for making changes to give more people the opportunity to visit this fantastic city.

“Liverpool boasts some great tourist attractions, like the Maritime Museum and the Tate Art Gallery, as well as spectacular events like the Mersey River Festival every June. We want to offer the maximum number of opportunities for boaters to experience the city and I’m delighted we will soon be able to make changes to allow this to happen.”

New operating system

The new operating system will be implemented from 1 August 2015. The changes will include:

• Providing more opportunities to cruise the Leeds & Liverpool Canal to Stanley Top Locks, without having to book a full Liverpool Link passage. Current arrangements mean that the Liverpool Link passage starts at Hancock’s (Wangon Lane) Swing      Bridge, in Aintree.
• Increasing flexibility by providing both ‘in’ and ‘out’ passages every operational day instead of separate dedicated days. This means up to 12 boat passages daily, six days a week, Easter to October.
• Reducing free stays on 46 city centre moorings in Salthouse Dock from 14 days to 7 days.
• Increasing numbers of volunteers to help with the extra boat movements. More lock and bridge keepers and welcome hosts in Liverpool Docks.
• Increasing the cancellation notice period from 72 hours to five days to improve the opportunity for re-allocating slots.

Chantelle added: “As part of this process, we will be reviewing the quality and availability of visitor moorings along the canal in Merseyside. The first few months of the new arrangements from August to October will be a trial period. We need to evaluate how the changes impact operationally on water resources, moorings and manpower.

“We will carry out another consultation at the end of the boating season to see what boaters and other stakeholders feel about the changes before deciding on arrangements for 2016.

“Hopefully the new arrangements will be welcomed and provide the best possible range of options for boaters wanting to visit this wonderful city.” 

Volunteers needed

We're looking for volunteers with a passion for Liverpool to look after boaters who have travelled through the Liverpool canal Link and help them make the most of their visit to the city.

The role will involve being on hand to meet and talk to boaters and other visitors, helping with any enquiries they may have and explaining the role of the Canal & River Trust.

Find out more about volunteering