Scotland’s Port of Grangemouth has seen its busiest season in four years due to the buoyant seed potato export industry.
The port, which is Scotland’s largest container facility, has handled over 50,000 TEUs during the last two months, and is on track to break volume records for this quarter.
In October and November, the port recorded a 30 per cent increase on reefer volumes year on year and during November alone, the port handled a record 1,400 reefers.
Most of this volume is the export of Scottish potato seed going to countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Morocco. This year, Scottish potato seed was exported via Rotterdam to Thailand, China and Namibia for the first time.
Port manager Derek Knox 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 at our port in Grangemouth. 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.
“Between October and November we are 30 per cent up on reefer volumes year on year. 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.”
Last year port owner Forth Ports invested in reefer infrastructure due to an increase in customer demand, primarily from Scotland’s fresh food exporters.
