Thousands Of Truck Movements Off Waikato Roads

Thousands of truck movements taken off Waikato roads

Thousands of truck movements are to be removed from the Waikato and Bay of Plenty roads each year as a result of exports of lime from Otorohanga being transferred from road on to rail.

An agreement between McDonald's Lime and Toll NZ is seeing ten containers a day leave the McDonald's Lime sidings and move through to the Mount Maunganui wharves ready for shipping to a gold mine in Papua New Guinea.

“Toll Rail already moved lime from McDonald's through to the Glenbrook Steel Mill but the export contract was a separate and long-established trucking contract,” says Kevin Harrison, Toll Rail’s Regional Sales Executive.

“McDonald’s wanted the certainty of moving the cargo daily, Monday to Friday, ensuring it arrived on time at Mount Maunganui, and of course there had to be cost competitiveness.

“Toll Rail had to deploy heavy-rated flat-deck wagons capable of carrying the very weighty containers full of lime, and also guarantee the movements direct from the plant to the wharves.”

Mr Harrison said there were some issues to sort out about the loading of containers in the tight space available at the McDonald's sidings, but they and other issues were sorted out quickly to allow the rail moves to proceed smoothly. This included coming to an arrangement with the stevedoring company at Mount Maunganui to expedite the “turn” on the fixed daily pool of wagons.

Toll Rail General Manager Commercial Aaron Temperton said the arrangement was positive in view of the Government’s active policy to get long-distance freight off roads and on to the more environmentally-friendly mode of rail.

“However, we have to show that rail can provide the logistics expertise and give the supply surety that is required to support an exporter, or any other existing or potential customer for that matter.

“In that regard, it was good to see that the first movements of full containers have gone well and that McDonald’s are delighted with how the arrangements are proceeding, so much so that we are now exploring further avenues in which we can add value to each other’s respective businesses.”

McDonald Lime’s Commercial Manager Andy Campbell added: “We have been pleasantly surprised at how things have come together so quickly and so well. We’ve found the entire team at Toll Rail to be very attuned to our needs and responsive to meeting our requirements.”

Looking ahead, Aaron Temperton says Toll’s goal is to ensure this business moves like clockwork every day.

“At the end of the day, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty will benefit from taking thousands of truck moves off the road each year. This aligns with the Government’s goals of environmental sustainability and rail for its part will do its utmost to ensure those goals are fulfilled.”

ENDS

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