A NEW shipping service is expected to mean a big increase in the amount of cargo handled by Greenock Ocean Terminal.
The BG Freight Line route -- from Greenock to Rotterdam, via Liverpool and Belfast -- will open up new opportunities for businesses in Glasgow and the west of Scotland and is expected to cut the cost of exporting to rest of the UK, Europe and North America. Global drinks company Diageo is one of the first producers to take an interest in using it.
It's estimated the number of containers handled at Greenock Ocean Terminal will increase by 16 per cent. The port currently handles 50,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) a year; the BG Freight service will carry 4,000 TEU in the first year with a plan to double that in two years.
Koert Luitwieler, chief executive officer of BG Freight Line and shipping director for Peel Ports (which owns the shipping line and the ocean terminal), said: