Scotland’s largest freight hub has delivered a bumper "tattie" season with 65,000 tonnes of seed potato exported around the world from the Port of Grangemouth.
October and November are the container terminal's peak months for Scotland’s seed potato trade with more than half of the annual total of approximately 3,500 refrigerated containers carrying some 65,000 tonnes of seed potatoes from farms in Caithness & Sutherland, Grampian, Angus, Perthshire, Fife, the Borders and Ayrshire. These are shipped principally to Egypt, Morocco, Turkey and the Middle East.
As well as potatoes, Scottish fish and seafood are shipped through Grangemouth to countries such as China, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Ukraine, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Greece. In total, more than £6 billion worth of goods pass through the port each year including steel plate, timber, paper and equipment for the oil and gas industry.
The port, which will be a key part of the Forth Green Freeport, saw total annual volumes increase to 150,000 containers last year.
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“We have just had our busiest period of the year for our freight hub in Grangemouth and the Scottish tatties are just part of the goods we export globally in the winter months," said Derek Knox, director of operations at Grangemouth owner Forth Ports.
"We are Scotland’s largest container terminal and we play an important part in the country’s export and import market. We handle around one million tonnes of food and drink products each year at the port including seafood, spirits, cheese and of course potatoes, being shipped out around the world."
He added that the port has received significant investment including more than 500,000sq ft of new warehousing during the past five years. In addition, five new straddle carriers arrived in December to increase capacity for storing conventional and refrigerated containers.
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