Port and Tainui’s big Ruakura deal
An inland port the size of Auckland’s CBD in Hamilton is one step closer with Tainui Group Holdings and Port of Tauranga joining forces to open at Ruakura within two years.
The two parties have announced a 50:50 joint venture to establish the Ruakura Inland Port, set to open by late 2021 at the same time as the final section of the Waikato Expressway.
Once fully complete, the 480-hectare site will have two million square metres of industrial and logistic buildings on it, Tainui Group Holdings chief executive Chris Joblin told Stuff.
‘‘480 hectares is easy to say but a lot harder to walk around, it’s basically fiveodd kilometres long and nearly 3km wide.’’
‘‘If you imagine a map that goes from Parnell in Auckland to West of the Harbour Bridge and up to the top of Queen St, that’s the size of Ruakura.’’
Development of the inland port has been in the works for years, but Joblin said completion of the expressway was essential for the project.
Access to both road and rail was crucial.
‘‘The critical success factor for Ruakura is its location and the infrastructure that already sits there for the east coast main trunk line, and it’s equidistant between Auckland and Tauranga.
‘‘So what that enables people to do is make Ruakura the home for their supply chain and national distribution networks. Things like same day delivery to retail network or retail customers is really really important.’’
Port of Tauranga and Tainui Group Holdings have been in talks since August 2019, when the parties signed an agreement over Port of Tauranga cargo trains servicing Ruakura.
The two parties are a good match in terms of strategic direction and values, he said.
Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns agreed.
‘‘This new partnership adds to our strong and growing capacity to serve the Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions. It combines our own expertise in developing and operating ports, the deep regional connections of Tainui Group Holdings and the scale and efficiencies offered by Ruakura and its road and rail connections,’’ Cairns said.
Joblin said construction on the inland port is due to begin in October and will start with earthworks, followed by building the rail sliding.
There will then be a focus on developing the roading network connecting up to the expressway, and building the first logistics buildings. Joblin was keeping tight-lipped on the value of the venture, but said the whole project over 20-30 years was worth billions.
Initial stages of development would bring a ‘‘small number of jobs’’, but he eventually thought there would be 6000-12,000 jobs.
‘‘If you’ve got a large scale industrial tenant that could be 500-1000 in each one of those buildings.’’
Joblin would not confirm numbers or names of businesses interested in being tenants but said demand was high.
He did not think a potential Ports of Auckland shift to Whangarei would be negative for Ruakura’s operations, due to the inland port’s proximity.
‘‘What we are about is facilitating the movement of cargo to and from port, and which port that is, is ultimately dictated by the customer.
‘‘You’ve got a big group of Waikato based exporters that Ruakura will service but there’s a growing trend for importers to move south out of Auckland and where the power of Ruakura is in locating importers and exporters together.’’
He believed industry and population growth would continue to boom in the golden triangle.
‘‘If you’d ask me whether the inland port is going to be too big I would say it’s not going to be big enough.’’