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The port of Grangemouth, Scotland’s largest shipping hub, had a bumper season with seed potatoes exported all over the world from Grangemouth.
The busy container terminal’s annual volumes have grown with 150,000 containers moving through the port in 2022.
Late in the year, October and November are peak port months for the seed potato trade in Scotland, with more than half of the annual total of reefer containers (reefer containers) passing through the container terminal at Grangemouth.
Annually, around 3,500 corals containing approximately 65,000 tonnes of seed potatoes are shipped from farms all over Scotland including Caithness & Sutherland, Grampian, Angus, Perthshire, Fife, the Borders and Ayrshire around the world.
The potato makes its way from Grangemouth mainly to Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, the Middle East and even as far away as Taiwan and Thailand.
Potatoes, fish and seafood from all over Scotland pass through the port in refrigerated containers for shipment around the world to countries such as China, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Ukraine, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Greece.
Derek Knox, COO, Forth Ports, said: “We have just experienced our busiest period of the year for our shipping hub at Grangemouth and Scottish barges are just part of the goods we export globally in the winter months.
“We are the largest container terminal in Scotland and play an important role in the country’s export and import market.
“We handle around 1 million tons of food and drink products each year at the port including seafood, spirits, cheese and of course potatoes, shipped all over the world.
“This volume is handled by our competent and experienced terminal teams to ensure everything is loaded onto the ships on time so that the cargo can meet the connections to reach international destinations on time.”
The port, which will be a major part of the Forth Green Freeport successfully nominated earlier this month, has significant investment including over 500,000 square feet. New storage space opened at the port over the past five years.
In December, five new tankers arrived on both sides of the port to increase its capacity to store both conventional containers and reefers.
The new airline carriers will replace five of the existing fleet of 16.
Grangemouth handles some of Scotland’s most valuable exports, such as fine food and drink, with over £6 billion worth of goods passing through the port each year including steel plates, timber, paper and equipment for the oil and gas industry.
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