BAM Nuttall makes ‘significant’ loss on Liverpool 2 project

Work being carried out for operator Peel Ports on the Liverpool 2 container port development has led to a £20m loss for civil engineering firm BAM Nuttall.

The eight-figure hit was revealed in the firm’s latest accounts, reported at Companies House earlier this week.

In 2013, contractor Lend Lease awarded the £75m contract to BAM and Dutch dredging and land reclamation firm Van Oord, which would work jointly on the £300m project to expand the Merseyside terminal.

According to a Construction Enquirer report, chief executive Stephen Fox said: “Our increased scrutiny and selectivity of tendering and contract management has resulted in a strengthened performance across the business.

“However this good work has been offset by one extremely challenging contract, which has resulted in a significant loss for the company.”

Stephen continued: “The directors are deeply disappointed at having to report this and the project in question has obviously drawn a significant amount of management time.”

Speaking further, he said that the firm now has the situation under control, and expects the contract to be “substantially completed” in 2015.

BAM’s work on the Seaforth container port includes the construction of a 854m quay wall and the installation of ship-to-shore crane rails.

In the 12 months to December last year, the company reported a turnover of £774m, an increase of 2%.