Grangemouth port operator reveals freeport vision for future

The firm, which runs the Port of Grangemouth, has joined a public and private sector consortium – which includes Falkirk Council and Ineos – to submit a bid to the Scottish and UK governments to create the Forth Green Freeport.

The bid encompasses three key ports on the Forth – Grangemouth, Leith and Rosyth – as well as industrial facilities and logistics centres along the north and south shores of the Firth of Forth and the busy Edinburgh Airport.

Together it is hoped they will create an ambitious and attractive green investment zone focused on the Forth but will have a much broader impact across Scotland, encouraging global companies to continue to choose the country as a place to invest at scale through the economic incentives offered to businesses within the Green Freeport.

Forth Ports and its partners believe the Forth Green Freeport can drive growth in two major areas of advanced manufacturing – offshore wind turbines and the innovative shipbuilding and energy systems modular manufacturing at sites in Rosyth.

Forth Ports chief executive Charles Hammond said: “The Forth is Scotland’s most prized trading and industrial asset and a Forth Green Freeport enables Scotland to

reduce emissions while creating technologies and jobs for the future.

“It will attract billions of investment for renewable offshore wind and hydrogen manufacture, enabling industrial decarbonisation and a reliable, clean energy supply with rapid distribution and export potential.

"Scotland has just over 20 years to deliver national decarbonisation and our bid provides an unmissable opportunity to deliver this in support of the country’s net zero ambitions.

“Our vision is for the Forth Green Freeport to reindustrialise Scotland and spread the benefits of trade widely into the communities that need it the most, through the establishment of a green growth investment corridor creating 50,000 jobs in renewable energy, green manufacturing and alternative fuels.

"These jobs will not just be in Grangemouth, Leith and Rosyth, but in Glasgow and Edinburgh, the Lothians, Stirling and Falkirk and Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy.

“This is a true partnership of private and public sector organisations who share the vision for the Forth with a bid that will benefit the whole of Scotland. It will help

establish the Forth as the key industrial site for supporting offshore wind deployment in the North Sea, then build on these strengths to service demand for renewable

energy technologies in global markets.

“Our team already has a track record of successfully delivering a freeport in England; we have unlocked large, undeveloped industrial sites; and we have credible investors lined up to deliver the innovation required for inclusive and sustainable growth in Scotland’s economy.”

Falkirk Council leader Cecil Meiklejohn added: “The Forth Green Freeport has the aims and objectives of regeneration, high-quality job creation, decarbonisation, a just transition, trade and investment, and innovation at its heart.

"It presents an opportunity for the governments to bring forward transformational change to the communities along the Firth of Forth. These are communities that have long felt the impact of carbon intensive industries and the decline of traditional industries, and we, along with our partners are committed to ensuring that this transformation occurs as a priority.”