The cargo service linking Liverpool with Frodsham Quay on the river Weaver has been operated by the barge Panary and the old ex-ICI coaster James Jackson Grundy. This latter vessel is now laid up in Liverpool and the service is being operated by another old coaster, the 295dwt Loach, which has been at a permanent berth in Liverpool for many years.
Loach is unusual in that she was built in 1968 for London & Rochester Trading Co by Bay Wharf Construction Company on the Thames, who built mainly lighters. Loach served the company until November 1984, when sold to the St Paul’s Trust Centre and converted to a static training ship.
In July 2010 she was resold to Wharfcross Ltd to be reconverted into a working vessel. And now she has returned to cargo carrying.
