Grangemouth container traffic hits four-year high

Grangemouth has seen an upturn in the 'reefer' business. Picture: Peter Devlin

Scotland's largest container facility has enjoyed a boost to its business from booming food exports.

The Port of Grangemouth said it handled more than 50,000 containers over the past two months, the highest figure for four years, thanks in part to a rise in seed potatoes being shipped overseas.

In October and November, owner Forth Ports said the facility recorded a 30 per cent increase in volumes of refrigerated containers – known in the industry as “reefers” – with 1,400 being handled last month alone.

The bulk of the reefers are used to export seed potatoes from farms across Scotland to countries including Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. This year will see the produce travelling from Grangemouth, via Rotterdam, to new destinations such as China, Namibia and Thailand.

Derek Knox, Grangemouth’s port manager, said: “Scotland has a strong reputation right across the world for the quality of our fresh produce and this has resulted in increasing demand for reefer capacity.

“This year, we have seen potato seed in particular enjoying a bumper season with Scottish farmers exporting their crop globally resulting in our port’s busiest quarter ever.”

He added: “This is good for the Scottish economy, good for the farming sector and good for business and we’re committed to supporting this growth through our investments in infrastructure and equipment at the Port of Grangemouth.”

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