MSP and the Port of Berwick

MSP and the Port of Berwick

The Port of Berwick is a key part of the fabric and history of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

The ancient walled town has had a working port for more than 1,000 years, with the current site – the Tweed Dock – having commenced construction in 1873 before officially opening in 1876.

Since then, the dock has remained largely unchanged – apart from the widening of the entrance in the mid-1990s to allow for bigger vessels – and it continues to play an important role in the importing and exporting of a variety of commodities.

At McCreath Simpson & Prentice (MSP) and, more widely, Simpsons Malt, we are proud to be an active user of the Port of Berwick, given the impact this has on the local economy and employment.

It’s also important to us from a sustainability perspective and the impact our operations have on our carbon footprint. The Port of Berwick is less than two miles from our headquarters and the importing and exporting of cargoes via boat is a far more efficient way of transporting bulk commodities.

More specifically, at MSP we are currently using the Port of Berwick predominantly for the importing of fertiliser products, including all the elements, from nitrogen, to phosphate and sulphur.

These shipments are imported from France, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Russia, and once the fertiliser has been discharged from the Tweed Dock, it goes up to our sheds and, from there, it’s bagged, sold and distributed to our customers in Scotland and northern England.

In the past, Simpsons Malt has also exported malt from the Port of Berwick to Europe. The image above is from the 1970s and shows the Hela vessel of Horsens, Denmark, exiting the Tweed Estuary bound for Beck’s Brewery in Bremen with that month’s load of malt.

For more information on the Port of Berwick, visit portofberwick.co.uk.

Interested in speaking to our fertiliser team? Contact us today and let us become your partners in farming.