SCOTLAND'S largest agricultural trading company Cefetra Ltd has announced the signing of a long- term contract with Forth Ports Ltd to use the Port of Rosyth.

Rosyth’s location and logistical links to the motorway network, makes it ideally suited to supply all areas of Scotland and Northern England. In addition, Rosyth, being near to continental Europe, has advantages in short sea freight.

Under the agreement, Forth Ports will develop the Port of Rosyth to provide Cefetra with an 'unparalleled, purpose-built facility' which will become the main agri-hub in Scotland, handling an extensive range of agricultural products.

The Port of Rosyth will be deepened to provide a true deep-water port capable of taking vessels carrying up to 50,000 tonnes of cargo. The existing storage facilities will be enhanced with the addition of a new, extensive, purpose built agricultural products terminal, increasing the storage capacity to circa 100k tonnes.

Cefetra MD Andrew Mackay said: “We are pleased to have been able to reach this agreement with Forth Ports and believe that the new Rosyth Agri- hub will enable us to continue to serve our valued customers. We expect to increase the efficiency of our supply chains, taking advantage of scale and location, to bring additional benefits to our customers and to Scottish agriculture. Our expectation is to develop an annual throughput in excess of 500,000 tonnes of agricultural products, worth more than £100 million.”

Cefetra, headquartered in Glasgow, is active throughout the UK and Ireland, trading over four million tonnes annually. It dispatches between 75,000/ 85,000 tonnes of raw materials to industry partners every week and delivers 500/ 550 lorry loads per day.