Grangemouth invests in container terminal
A major investment programme is under way at the Port of Grangemouth, Scotland’s largest container port, this month to increase the terminal’s capacity for storing containers.
The port’s owner, Forth Ports Limited, is investing in significant surface upgrading works on an area of some 6,325 square metres. The investment is designed to increase the busy container terminal’s total capacity to 12,000 TEUs (the industry standard container size of twenty foot equivalent units) – a 50% increase since 2005 – and will deliver operational efficiencies to its landside and shipside operations.
The resurfacing at the terminal will see the construction of a heavy duty concrete pavement and other works which will create additional storage lanes for laden containers in addition to improved equipment access to landside and shipside operations. This work is expected to be completed and ready for business in October 2015 and represents the second phase of a five year investment plan to improve the storage capabilities of the terminal. It is expected that the capacity will grow by a further 10% over the 5 year period in line with market demand.
In addition to this upgrade, the port has commissioned a feasibility study to assess the viability and cost of deepening the shipping channel within the port to enable it to bring larger, heavier container ships and bulk vessels to the quayside. This deepening project, which would see the dock water depth taken from 7.5 metres to over 10 metres, is expected to entail a multimillion pound capital investment and would take around three years to complete.
Both projects have been commissioned in response to changes in the container shipping market where there is a trend towards larger capacity feeder vessels which require deeper water to access the port’s quaysides. Some vessel sizes have increased significantly over the past 10 years from around 300-500 TEU per ship to 1,700 TEU capacity ships.
