MEDIA RELEASE

Palmerston North welcomes Coda freight hub

6 December 2016

Palmerston North City Council has welcomed the opening of Coda’s intermodal freight hub in Auckland last week.

The Port of Tauranga/Kotahi joint venture brings export, import and domestic cargo flows together in one location and will provide further opportunities for lower North Island exporters to access the Island’s two main ports.

It will also enhance the movement of freight between Auckland and Palmerston North.

“Palmerston North has grown into a major freight and logistics hub for the lower North Island and indeed New Zealand,” says Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith.

“Coda already runs a daily train between Palmerston North and Auckland to take Fonterra export product up to Auckland and deliver fast moving consumer goods and supermarket stock to the lower North Island. This expansion will make it even easier to move freight between the two locations.”

Longer term, the Coda intermodal hub in Auckland will likely be part of a broader network, with the potential for additional hubs in Palmerston North, Hamilton, and Rolleston.

“Located in the middle of a million people in the lower North Island, and with Wellington just down the road, we’re very well placed to serve as a hub and would be delighted to work with Coda,” says Mayor Smith.

“It’s a little known fact that Palmerston North already moves six times more freight than Taranaki, three times more freight than Hawke’s Bay, and two and a half times more freight than Wellington.”

Recent changes to Palmerston North’s District Plan support the city’s ambitions as a major freight and logistics hub.

“These changes allow for a 126 hectare extension to the industrial zone near the airport to enable more freight and logistics firms to base their activities there, and a 33 hectare industrial extension at Longburn that will position Palmerston North as a central processing and distribution hub for dairy.”

ENDS

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