Since the 1970’s, the discovery of the North Sea oil reserves has attracted attention to the Scottish economy. While oil revenues make up an important component of Scotland’s economic prosperity and diversity, in reality, it is only one factor among many. Scotland retains its historically important shipbuilding, coal mining, and heavy industry capacities and has gone on to expand into services and tourism to create added revenue. In 2012, three-fifths of Scottish exports were from the manufacturing sector, electronics and whiskey being among the top products. Their prime trading partners included the U.S., Germany, and France, and their GDP was estimated at over 150 billion pounds ($240 billion).
Scotland’s infrastructure includes 3000 km (1800 mi) of rail lines that inter-link all of the top four cities (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, and Aberdeen) as well as most of the smaller towns, although no rail lines as yet cross over onto any of the northwestern coastal islands. Major trunk road networks inter-connect all of Scotland and link it extensively to England to the south. There are five major international airports: at Edinburgh the Capital, Glasgow the largest city, and at Aberdeen, Inverness and Prestwick. Edinburgh Airport is Scotland’s largest and busiest, Dundee Airport is a major hub for commercial flights to London, and Aberdeen’s heliport is among the busiest in the world.
Port facilities at Aberdeen handle the 95 percent of British oil that lie within Scottish waters, Hunterston terminal in the Firth of Clyde is a deep water port that specializes in coal shipping, and Newcastle upon Tyne near Dundee also serves as a major international shipping location. King George V Dock in Glasgow is the only dock left in town since the rise of container shipping methods led most docks to be placed in the deeper waters of the Firth of Clyde- an area that handles 7.5 million tons of freight annually.
If you are in need of shipping goods in or out of Scotland, we can assure you of our expertise in managing the Scottish infrastructure system, choosing the most reliable and cost-effective shipping partners, and monitoring your goods from point A to point B to ensure their safe arrival. We can consult with you at your convenience to discuss your options for optimizing your freight logistics in Scotland, whether you ship by land, sea, air, or some combination thereof.
For comprehensive logistics solutions that fit your needs from Scotland to anywhere or, anywhere to Scotland.
