Established with the objective of ensuring enduring viability of the Canterbury supply chain, the Fairfield Freight Hub is set to be a game-changer for intermodal transport.
Located just north of Ashburton and fully owned by Mid Canterbury-based Wareing Group, which incorporates a number of transport companies throughout the South Island, the freight hub provides a staging model aimed at smoothing volumes of both empty container supply, export cargo ready to ship and import handling.
Wareing Group director Mark Wareing said the hub would streamline freight volumes in and out of Mid Canterbury and reduce the impact of trucks on roads.
He said helping exporters and freight partners move more freight by rail makes sense both from a business and sustainability perspective and will help stabilise the supply chain issues.
Wareing worked with Talleys to secure the hub site at the existing rail siding site of the former Silver Fern Farms meat processing plant.
The hub development cost $18 million, with a $2.5m contribution from the government’s NZ Upgrade Programme and $2.3m from the Ashburton District Council.
Speaking at a New Zealand grain and seed forum, Wareing said aligning with trusted service partners outside of the local region, the services and facilities offered by the Fairfield Freight Hub will offer numerous benefits including optimising operational efficiencies, eliminating unnecessary road transport movements and improving sustainability.
“We needed to find a better way to get containers to port than battling with the 4×4 Prado drivers getting little Billy to school along Brougham Street [Christchurch] with time critical to seed stores and to us as transport operators getting to and from the Lyttleton Port.
“With existing rail siding facilities having reached capacity it is vital to the Canterbury economy that a more structured approached to freight movements be established,” Wareing said.
The intermodal project is part of a long-term agreement with KiwiRail for the development of a rail siding, combined with container transfers services, warehouse storage and grain handling facilities.
“While reducing heavy vehicle movements throughout the Canterbury region, resulting in reduced infrastructure deterioration and carbon emissions, the hub offers improved efficiency and reliability through the ability to transport via rail.”
It will also enhance supply networks, providing greater connectivity between manufacturers, importers, exporters and ports.
Getting grain to the North Island is in the pipeline, as is future connection with the Port of Timaru.
“This takes away some of the slack in the system, a big bump out of the supply chain.
“It’s a game-changer for intermodal transport and with the projections of Lyttleton Port Company and KiwiRail, it’s built for the future,” Wareing said.
Intermodal hubs make use of both road and rail transport enabling trucks to complete the first and last mile of collection and delivery, and for rail to do the heavy longer-distance movements.
The four-hectare Ministry for Primary Industries-approved transitional Fairfield hub facility includes dry storage warehousing, general container storage, secure export scheme approval, bulk grain testing and consolidation, and container fumigation and cleaning.
KiwiRail said the new Fairfield operation will increase the amount of local freight carried by rail from 6000 to 20,000 containers a year. That’s half a million tonnes of freight off the region’s roads, the equivalent of 40,000 truck movements.
Given rail offers 70% fewer emissions compared to heavy road freight, it’s a substantial reduction in transport emissions.
KiwiRail account executive Paul Dinnington said KiwiRail now has six South Island export container hubs operating as a buffer to ensure containers get to port on time.
A new customer booking portal showing live data has improved booking supply chain and connector efficiencies with road transport.
“We have been on the back foot with that but it’s up and running now.
“I would like to see us partner more in that space; road, rail, shipping, exporters and importers.
“Everyone is looking at the same dollars and cents, and where we can work collaboratively to take out some cost, such as the Fairfield Hub and inland port hubs, we are very much in favour of promoting that where we can,” Dinnington said.
