Dairy rivals on different storage tack

DONNA WALSH/Waikato Times

ROOMY: A forklift in operation at Fonterra’s new coolstore at Te Rapa in Hamilton.

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Fonterra's new coolstore at Te Rapa dwarfs anything its competitors have to offer in the Waikato.

The Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company, at Tatuanui near Morrinsville, has capacity for 1000 pallets of dairy products at its own coolstore in its factory complex, and can store up to another 1000 pallets off site at Icepak's Waharoa coolstore.

"Because our strategy is to grow value not volume we don't envisage building any additional cool storage ourselves," Tatua chief executive Paul McGilvary said. "Increasing the value of our products doesn't need more storage. Additional storage, should it be required, would come by way of outside contract storage." McGilvary said Fonterra needed the extra storage to cope with growth in milk production.

Open Country Dairy chief executive Mark Fankhauser said his company had 3000-5000 tonnes of product in its own stores and leased storage at peak times.

"We own about half of our stores, lease from Icepak in Waharoa and also have some space in Real Cool in Tauranga," Fankhauser said.

Dave Bradshaw, principal engineer for Sinclair Knight Merz which designed Fonterra's Te Rapa coolstore, said the project built on the company's 40-year experience. He was not aware of a bigger coldstore in New Zealand.

"We have had a project management team of three people on site for the best part of a year," client manager Steve de Kretser added.

They are David Harris, Paul Naylor and Jan Studnika.

De Kretser said Fonterra had some "pretty tight" requirements from the project's inception.

"This is a very significant capital expense for Fonterra, which is a strong motivator to make sure that they are getting it right."

Brian Dippie, project manager for Haydn & Rollett Construction which built the coolstore, said his company was offered the contract after building the nearby dry store.

"This is the first large cold store we have built," Dippie said. "This unique project was complex due to the short time-frame, and separate contractors for racking, refrigeration and exterior works." Dippie said the building being handed over in two stages created operational difficulties. "Part of the complex was being used for storing Fonterra's product while the final construction needed completing."

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