Greener alternative: Carr’s Flour Mills celebrates million tonne milestone by cargo ship
The wheat shipped in by water since 2011 is enough to bake over 2.5 billion loaves of bread (around 32.5 billion sandwiches). Fun fact: laid end to end, that would be enough to reach to the moon and back or traverse the world more than 15 times.
More important is the environment win. Moving wheat by 506 ship journeys into the Fife port in the past 12 years has removed around 70,000 truck journeys in and out of the Kirkcaldy mill, significantly reducing heavy road traffic and carbon emissions.
The UK grown wheat comes from Dover in Kent, and is delivered into Kirkcaldy Harbour, which is owned and operated by Forth Ports, before being dispatched to Carr’s mill.
The harbour was re-opened to commercial traffic in 2011 and has subsequently seen a considerable programme of investment. Carr’s Flour built a new silo storage and infrastructure, while Forth Ports provided discharge equipment, fendering and dredging at the harbour.
“This is an important milestone for Carr’s and the Harbour as it demonstrates the success of a quayside milling facility with direct access to regular shipping activity,” said Andy Lamb, deputy port manager of Kirkcaldy Harbour.
“Coastal shipping delivers a greener transport alternative with shipments being over 10 times more carbon efficient than road deliveries, aligning with our commitment to achieving net zero by 2042. We have exciting plans in place for Kirkcaldy Harbour to ensure that it can handle even larger cargo vessels to further increase efficiency.”
A group effort
“We are pleased to have a strong working relationship with Forth Ports, Forth Pilots, Leith & Granton Boatmen, W Knight Watson and Cargo Mariners to make this operate smoothly, and we are looking forward to soon being able to bring larger vessels into the Kirkcaldy harbour,” added Julius Deane, Carr’s Flour Mills wheat and supply chain specialist.
“It is a great pleasure to see that we have reached this milestone, especially with the challenges of Covid lockdowns.
“Having direct access to vessels bringing wheat into our mill really helps us efficiently supply consistent high-quality flour to our many customers, as well as reducing our carbon footprint.”
Carr’s Flour Mills supplies bakeries and food manufacturers with flour-based goods from its mills in Kirkcaldy (Fife), Silloth (Cumbria and Maldon (Essex).
Forth Ports is part of consortia behind the Thames Freeport and Forth Green Freeport, which are seeking to accelerate the growth of the Net Zero economy.
The latter was successfully shortlisted by the Scottish and UK Governments in January 2023 for proposals targeting clean growth, high-value manufacturing and processing across a number of the group’s ports.
