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The Port of Grangemouth, Scotland’s largest container facility, is underway with a major resurfacing development as part of its continual multimillion pound investment which will further increase the capacity of the busy terminal and position the port ahead of the market.
This investment of £1million will upgrade the container terminal’s surfacing to increase the quality, capacity and the speed of servicing vessels with further significant investment planned for 2018. The work is being carried out by Luddon Construction and will be finished in October in time for the peak volume period. The new resurfaced area is expected to add in the region of 1,000 TEU of additional capacity.
Grangemouth is Scotland’s largest container port, with an overall capacity of 220,000 containers per annum. 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 has also placed an order with Liebherr for a new multimillion pound ship to shore container crane and is developing a new IT Terminal operating system both of which are due in service in 2018. This resurfacing work will ensure that the landside operation supports the investment in the crane and Terminal operating system which will deliver faster terminal performance.
Derek Knox, Grangemouth’s Port Manager, said: “Our significant investment at Grangemouth keeps us ahead of the market in Scotland. It is important that we deliver fast turnaround times to maintain container vessel schedules and ensure their reliability to service the Scottish export market. The investment in surfacing, crane and terminal operating system to increase terminal capacity and efficiency continues to ensure the port is well equipped to meet the future demands of our customers.
We are Scotland’s largest container port and we handle some of the country’s most valuable exports, such as fine foods and drinks and this further investment in the port, ensures a high quality service for our customers. We will continue to invest in the terminal and seek further opportunities to increase capacity, create portcentric warehousing and service improvements.”
Also included in the ongoing investment programme at Grangemouth, the port welcomed three new ESC340 straddle carriers earlier this year increasing the fleet at the container terminal to 16. The port also added a new Hyster empty container handler to the fleet this year. The new straddles, empty container handler and the new Liebherr crane will increase the handling capacity for both conventional containers and reefers (refrigerated containers).