Investment in Port of Grangemouth is good news for Scottish Exports

There was good news for Scottish importers and exporters this month when it was announced that Forth Ports will be more than doubling its refrigerated container capacity at the Port of Grangemouth.

The total value of Scottish food and drink exports was valued at £5.1 billion in 2014 and figures released this year revealed that the 3.5 per cent increase in food exports alone was mainly driven by an increase in fish and seafood, which was up a massive £38m.

There’s strong demand for Scottish fresh produce from markets such as the Middle East, where Scottish salmon and seafood has been particularly successful. Other fresh food export successes include dairy, which is up 6 per cent.*

The investment in the port of Grangemouth can only help the already impressive figures, as it means that the electricity supply infrastructure will be increased from 126 specialist power supply points to 432, giving a further boost to Scotland’s fresh produce import/export freight trade. The investment is part of a major investment programme for the port, designed to increase its capacity for storing conventional and refrigerated containers.

A feasibility study has also been commissioned into the deepening of the shipping channel to allow the port to handle larger vessels.

Refrigerated containers, also known as reefers, need to be supplied with power as soon as they arrive in port so that their contents can be kept fresh until they are loaded onto refrigerated vehicles to be exported, or delivered to their UK destinations. The expansion is a result of increased demand, mostly from Scotland’s fresh food exporters, and will help exporters to offer a much longer season for shipping produce including cheese, fish and seafood around the world.

Grangemouth is Scotland's largest container port and already handles more than 155,000 containers every year. With frequent sailings to Rotterdam, Antwerp, Felixstowe and Hamburg, Grangemouth is an important part of Scotland’s import/export infrastructure and increasing its capacity for handling fresh produce will further establish the port’s reputation in the UK and abroad.

The installation should be finished by the end of October, and should help to maintain the Port of Grangemouth’s position as the largest reefer facility in Scotland.

Stuart Wallace, Forth Ports’ Director of Scottish Operations, said:

“Scotland has a growing reputation right across the world for the quality of our fresh produce and that’s resulted in increasing demand for reefer capacity. That’s good for the Scottish economy and good for business and we’re committed to investing in support of this growth through increasing our reefer capacity at the Port of Grangemouth.”

For more information on our shipping services from Grangemouth and other UK ports, contact us.

*Figures from http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/New-record-for-Scottish-food-exports-1933.aspx

T ward shipping - helping firefighters abroad

As a responsible local business and supporter of good causes, we’re delighted to work with the International Fire and Rescue Charity (IFRA), a fantastic organisation that has been sending unwanted emergency vehicles, equipment and clothing to less fortunate countries since 2002.

The charity was set up in 2001 after founder David Kay, a serving firefighter at Lochgelly Fire Station, Dunfermline, saw for himself the need for fire equipment in Bosnia. The services were woefully under-funded and David returned to Scotland and with help from a local school he managed to organise fundraising efforts to buy an Isuzu Trooper which was sent to help the firefighters of Kljuc.

Since then, the work of the charity has been expanded to help firefighters in Mexico, Argentina, Paraguay, Albania and Bosnia, where fire services are extremely under-developed.

IFRA also helps to train firefighters in countries where the fire services need extra assistance.

We have been able to support the work of the charity by arranging for transportation of some of the equipment to Mexico, Bosnia and Argentina. We shipped two crates of equipment to Mexico at the beginning of August and we’re sending three more to Argentina, Mexico and Paraguay later in the month.

The pallets contain specialist clothing like tunics, boots, helmets, gloves and trousers, all essential gear for helping to kit out around 4,500 firefighters- helping to keep them safe while they carry out their important work. This specialist clothing can’t be used in the UK for health and safety reasons and would only have to be destroyed if they weren’t gifted. Destroying them costs money so sending the unusable items abroad doesn’t just help the fire teams in other countries, it also saves the UK money; a real win-win situation.

The items are no longer of any use in Scotland or the UK but are still perfectly usable, according to David, who added that there was absolutely nothing wrong with them, but they were considered redundant because their expiry dates had passed.

We at t ward shipping are pleased to be able to play a part in this important work, and we look forward to working with IFRA in the future. You can find out more about the work of this incredible organisation at: http://www.ifra.co.uk/

Find out more about our range of freight forwarding and shipping services at t ward shipping