Smarter, cleaner… winner
AN OPTIMISED FREIGHT LOGISTICS OPERATION that’s halved the number of truck journeys needed to cart wine and bottles between Marlborough and Port Nelson has won a national environmental award.
Port Nelson has won the Resilience Climate Change category in the Ministry for the Environment’s 2017 Green Ribbon Awards, for its QuayConnect operation.
e port company worked with trucking company Central Express (CEL) and, primarily, two 3PL customers – glass bottle manufacturer O-I New Zealand and wine bottler Wine Works Marlborough – to set up QuayConnect in February last year “as a smarter way of distributing goods.”
e aim was to reduce fuel consumption and energy use across the company and provide supply chain improvements for key customers in the Marlborough wine industry.
QuayConnect’s operation optimises import and export loads, with three dedicated 50MAX truck and trailer units (plus additional B-train units as needed) working 24-hours, ve days a week (for at least 10 months a year) – carting palletised glass wine bottles from Port Nelson to Marlborough…. and bottled wine back.
is, says Port Nelson, “compares with the traditional transport model where trucks travel empty on one leg of the journey from ship to producer and back.”
Central Express has three identical, nine-axle 540hp Volvo FM curtainsider units (built by Fruehauf ) doubleshifting on the run.
In its rst year of operation QuayConnect has cut the truck operating time needed to shift the same loads by 10,000 hours – saving 348,436 litres of fuel and 1602 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith, who presented the Green Ribbon Awards, says QuayConnect shows “the sort of practical and innovative initiatives that can make a real di erence to the di cult problems of climate change.
“It will be reassuring for wine producers using this award-winning distribution and storage service to know it aligns with their company’s own sustainable values. It sends a clear message to opponents of climate change initiatives, like President Trump, that such projects can make both business and environmental sense.
“Not only has QuayConnect reduced carbon emission levels, I also commend the team for QuayConnect’s critical role supporting NZ’s valuable wine sector following the aftermath of the Kaikoura earthquake,” he says.
e operation helped winemakers with damaged infrastructure to quickly move their products (they make 75% of the country’s wine) to secure storage and on to NZ and international customers through Port Nelson.
Port Nelson CEO Martin Byrne says winning the Green Ribbon award ahead of two other organisations working equally hard to reduce the impact of climate change – NZ Post and Sustainability Trust were the other nalists – is “an incredible endorsement of the Port’s work.
“e signi cant di erence QuayConnect has made to the wine transport sector’s energy output is hugely rewarding and we are enormously honoured to have won this award on behalf of the project’s collaborators,” Byrne says.
“CEL, Wine Works Marlborough and O-I NZ also deserve the win, as QuayConnect is very much a collaborative service, with all involved investing and changing their processes to create a more e cient and sustainable model for the longterm,” he says.
Wine Works’ business innovation manager Jason Gluer says that the QuayConnect service “allows us to handle an increased volume for our wine customers within the same physical footprint, while reducing the number of vehicles coming into the facility. It’s a win-win all round.”
Julie Turnbull, logistics manager for O-I NZ says the company has incorporated sustainability into its business practices for more than a century and is “thrilled” to have played a part in the development of the awardwinning freight and logistics service.
Central Express GM Gordon Blacktopp says QuayConnect “has been a really great model of collaboration between the port, ourselves and the other users.”
T&D