A Rotterdam-based shipping line has launched a service from Greenock which will open up new routes for Scottish exports.
BG Freight Line, wholly-owned by Clydeport owner Peel Ports, has extended its Irish Sea network with a new service connecting Rotterdam, Liverpool, Belfast, Dublin and Greenock.
It should cut the cost of freight for Scotland’s food and drink, chemical, and advanced manufacturing industries, to the rest of the UK, Europe and North America, and improve options for exporting to international markets through Liverpool or Rotterdam.
It follows investment by Peel Ports which in December will launch Liverpool2, the UK’s most centrally-located deep water container terminal, doubling the capacity of the Port of Liverpool and allowing it to handle some of the world’s largest container ships.
Currently Liverpool handles 45per cent of the UK’s total transatlantic trade, and the US is Scotland’s biggest export market accounting for £3.9billion of exports in 2013. The Scottish Government’s target is to increase exports to international markets £22.8bn in 2010 to £33.4bn in 2017.
The new service is expected to increase the number of containers handled at Greenock Ocean Terminal by 16per cent. The port currently handles 50,000 units a year, and BG Freight hopes to handle 4,000 in the first year and double that the following year.
Koert Luitwieler, chief executive of BG Freight Line and shipping director at Peel Ports Group said: “The combination of our port network, our existing feeder services, and this new route allows us to provide international traders with a way to minimise costs, carbon emissions and congestion. As well as helping to meet increasing demand now, the extra option we can now offer importers and exporters will complement the Liverpool2 container terminal that will open in December this year.”
Peter Samuels, global freight manager at Diageo, said: “We are very supportive of this new service as it offers an efficient short-sea logistics connection out of the west coast of Scotland into deep sea hubs such as Liverpool.”
Richard Muir, deputy chief executive of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said: “This is very welcome news for existing Scottish exporters and businesses in the Glasgow area which are looking to export for the first time.”
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