Published: Thursday, 17th June, 2010 3:57pm

Container port promises Rosyth 450 jobs boost

by Gary Fitzpatrick

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Plans for a £85 million international container terminal at Rosyth could bring 250 contruction jobs and 200 permanent positions to the port.

The dock and storage facilities would be on the infamous RD57 site, originally earmarked for the refitting of Trident nuclear submarine until the Government pulled the plug in the early 1990s and took that work to Devonport.

The site has been lying unused since but now Babcock want to breathe new life into it and take advantage of the enhanced transport infrastructure promised by the new Forth road bridge.

A two-day public exhibition opened today (Friday) at Rosyth Civil Service Club at which local people could find out more about the plans.

A planning application will be submitted in September and if the go-ahead is granted construction would start in 2012/13 for completion in 2015.

The site is reclaimed land to the west of the main dockyard and it is anticipated that £8.5 million would be injected into the local economy on purchases and service provision during the construction phase.

Within six years of start-up it is estimated 200 people would be employed at the terminal. Much of goods which would come to Rosyth currently arrive at English ports and are transported by road to Scotland.

A Babcock statement to mark the start of their public consultation said, "Development of the Rosyth International Container Terminal will add much needed capacity to Scotland's existing container facilities.

"Scotland is a significant exporter of goods yet it is estimated that by 2015 existing container port capacity will be unable to meet demands of the import/export market.

"In order to secure long-term sustainable economic development for Scotland it is crucial to increase sea container capacity at an inter-modal location.

"This need has been recognised by politicians at both local and national level and consequently the requirement for additional container freight capacity on the Forth has been included in the National Planning Framework for Scotland 2, where Rosyth is named as a potential location."

Grangemouth is currently Scotland's main container terminal handling 9 million tonnes of cargo each year and Rosyth would provide a similar capacity.