The arrival of the Skylight container vessel into Scotland’s key strategic freight hub at The Port of Grangemouth marks the maiden call of a new Scottish Express (SCX) service secured with the CMA CGM Group, a global player in sea, land, air and logistics solutions, and its subsidiary, Containerships, the leader in intra-European multimodal transport.

The new service, which calls into Grangemouth each Thursday, has been launched to principally support growing exports from Scotland’s largest exporters who transport produce from Leven and Shieldhall through Grangemouth and into Europe to service worldwide destinations. The SCX service rotation is a weekly route to mainland Europe, from Grangemouth via Teesport to Rotterdam, and will be capable of handling around 20,000 containers per annum through the Port.

The SCX service provides export and import customers with a regular additional call into mainland Europe each week through Scotland’s largest container port, increasing shipping capacity to meet the demands of the Scottish market. The Port of Grangemouth, which handles 30% of Scottish GDP, will be a strategic site for a new Forth Green Freeport which will help to transform the port into a major logistics, manufacturing, renewable energy hub and R&D centre for the Scottish and UK economies.

James Leeson, General Manager at CMA CGM UK, said: “We are delighted to announce the launch of our new SCX service at the Port of Grangemouth. This is an important addition to the Scottish market with a fixed day weekly service and increases Scotland’s connectivity to mainland Europe and beyond.

“We are committed to supporting economic growth within the areas we operate, and I am looking forward to continuing to work alongside Forth Ports as we expand our service offering in Scotland.”

Commenting on the new service, Derek Knox, Head of Operations Scottish Ports, said: “The new Scottish Express service is great news for Grangemouth and for Scotland. The Port of Grangemouth plays a key role in Scotland’s logistics and freight sector and this new weekly call will increase the frequency of vessels connecting to mainland Europe and we welcome the team from CMA CGM and Containerships to our container terminal.

“The additional shipping capacity created from this new direct freight service to Europe will play a key role in fulfilling the demands of the Scottish market trading with European and International destinations. This further supports our ambitions to deliver a Forth Green Freeport where one of the key objectives of the policy is to develop trade. We are continuing to deliver our investment programme in Grangemouth with new equipment, an expanded container terminal and warehousing complex, linked freight rail terminal and over 400 reefer connections securing the Port of Grangemouth as Scotland’s freight hub of choice.”