YESTERDAY MORNING the latest consignment of Scottish seed potatoes was being loaded at Dundee docks, with just over 3000 tonnes being carefully stowed in the holds of the Valetta-registered Cool Aster before it caught the tide en route to Egypt, writes Ewan Pate, farming editor.

The shipment had been put together jointly by merchants Greenvale AP, Saltire Seeds and Grampian Growers and consist- ed of a number of varieties including Lady Balfour, Nieeta and Hermes.

Over a season a significant total of 30,000-35,000 tonnes of seed potatoes are shipped out of Dundee heading for Mediterranean ports in consignments of anything from 3000 to 4500 tonnes.

Yesterday Arbroath haulier and stevedore Ray McEwan of R. T. McEwan Ltd was supervising four gangs unloading lorries and filling the holds.

He has built up considerable experience in this complex task and the co-ordinated effort can now cope with up to 80 lorry loads or 2400 tonnes per day arriving from farms across the arable areas of Scotland. At any one time he can have eight forklifts operating in the holds and a further nine in the warehouse.

The target is to unload a 30 tonne articulated lorry in around six minutes and to carry out the whole operation safely and efficiently. Potatoes arrive either as palletised 50 kilogram bags or more commonly in 1250 kilogram bulk bags.

The bags or pallets are set on purpose-built frames in pairs and hoisted by crane on to the ship and thereafter stowed according to consignor and variety. It is a considerable logistical feat.