Hamilton group plans inland port and commercial hub

A more than 300-hectare inland port and commercial hub to serve Auckland, Bay of Plenty and the Waikato is being planned for later this decade by Hamilton-based Tainui Group Holdings.

The commercial development arm of the Waikato-Tainui tribe, which owns large tracts of land in Hamilton, says the development will be sited on land bordering the AgResearch campus at Ruakura.

The property will be served by existing rail and the planned Hamilton bypass, a key section of the Waikato Expressway, a road considered of national significance.

Tainui Group Holdings (TGH) chairman John Spencer said the project, which will sit half way between the Port of Tauranga and Ports of Auckland, is scheduled to start about 2018-2019.

It will offer buildings and facilities for light industry, distribution centres for major retailers, and commercial activities, and has the potential to generate ''hundreds of millions'' of dollars, Spencer says.

TGH already has an agreement for the agricultural-zoned land involved to be transferred from the Waikato District Council to Hamilton City Council and rezoned appropriately.

This will require a restructure under the Local Government Act. TGH has also reached agreements with farming neighbours in the area.

A port operator has yet to be tapped on the shoulder, but TGH has had discussions with Transit New Zealand and KiwiRail, says chief executive Mike Pohio.

Given that the project is still a few years away, it gives logistics companies, manufacturers and distributors time for long-term planning around the new option, Pohio, says.

Don Braid, managing director of logistics heavyweight Mainfreight is happy at potentially getting a Waikato site that can be serviced directly by rail. ''We would welcome the opportunity, but it will need a lot more legs to get to planning stage.''

Fonterra, New Zealand's biggest exporter, says although its Waikato logistics needs are currently well served by its Hamilton transport and rail hub, TGH's plan is ''interesting''.

Logistics and transport chief Nigel Jones says if the proposed inland port has the right business model and critical mass operating around it in the form of an industrial park, it has potential.

Another big plus is Ruakura's centrality, should either the Port of Tauranga or Ports of Auckland decide to merge or stay separate, Pohio says.

''It won't be dedicated to one port or the other.''

But the Port of Tauranga, which has its own inland port in Auckland, seems unimpressed.

While chief financial officer Steven Gray can see the benefit of a ''neutral'' inland port, he notes that the Government-sponsored national freight study is still under way and has not yet drawn any conclusions.

Ports of Auckland, which also has its own inland port at Wiri, is more upbeat. Its general manager of sales, logistics and marketing, Craig Sain, says it has potential benefits for the whole supply chain.

''From a New Zealand Inc perspective, improving the Waikato's transport and logistics infrastructure is a logical step forward. The Waikato is rich in exports, while the Auckland region has strong import flows and growth. There is therefore an opportunity to take waste and cost out of the supply chain by doing a better job of repositioning containers between the two regions.''

Sain says Ports of Auckland sees Wiri as a stepping stone for Waikato exports to reach the Auckland seaport. ''Our long-term vision is for Wiri to have a direct rail connection to the Waikato, in the way the Auckland seaport already does.''

Pohio says the job of port operator would probably be contracted out.

Initial finance for the inland port will come from TGH's continuing development of its Big Box retail spread, The Base, built on the former airforce base at Te Rapa, which formed part of a Crown treaty settlement with Tainui in 1995.

The latest development, the $118 million The Mall at The Base, opens in the third quarter of this year. And TGH intends adding New Zealand's first entirely digital cinema complex and more retail to The Mall by the end of the year. The next step planned, but as yet without resource consent, is a hotel, hospitality and tourism training centre, offices, and a major health facility. The potential annual rental income from The Base when completed will be $30 million a year, Spencer says.

- © Fairfax NZ News