QuayConnect keeps NZ wine moving post-earthquake

QuayConnect keeps NZ wine moving post-earthquake

Port Nelson’s QuayConnect has handled an additional 40% of wine freight across the Top-of-the-South Island since Monday 14th November’s devastating earthquake, helping it reach its international or domestic markets.

QuayConnect is a Nelson – Marlborough integrated warehousing, transport and logistical service. Port Nelson established the service in February this year as a more sustainable way of distributing goods. In partnership with Central Express Ltd, QuayConnect’s model optimises import and export loads, reducing the number of trucks on the road without reducing freight movement across the regions.

QuayConnect’s Eugene Beneke says over the last week Port Nelson has quickly scaled up QuayConnect to ensure the transport and storage needs of the majority of the country’s wine industry continue to be met.

“The wine industry is a critical earner for New Zealand, and Marlborough is central to the country’s wine industry. It is important for our wine makers to know that their businesses will survive this – that they can keep production going and their staff employed,” Beneke says. “It is also important that international markets know that the supply chain is working – that the country is not broken.”

“We’ve had no earthquake damage at Port Nelson so through QuayConnect we have been able to lend extra support to those who need it now, and are already ready for when the 2017 vintage hits,” he says. “We have been working closely with the industry and other logistic companies all year, and more so over recent days. We are all working towards the best solution for now, and the long term.

“This is an opportunity for consolidation and rationalisation, rather than proliferation, and through industry collaboration a solution can be developed.”

Prior to the 14th November earthquake Port Nelson had been managing 80% of the South Island’s wine exports and 90% of the inbound dry goods across our wharves prior to the earthquake. QuayConnect also provided warehousing and distribution to approximately 50% of Marlborough wine industry.

Since the earthquake Port Nelson has advanced its existing growth plans to further assist; two additional truck and trailers arrive next week to meet the new demand to and from Marlborough and the company is recruiting additional logistics and transport staff.

WineWorks bottles more than 40% of New Zealand’s wine and is a significant service provider to the wine industry in Marlborough.

Managing Director Tim Nowell-Usticke says the earthquake has put significant pressure on the region as a whole, but the work that had already gone into putting in place a resilient wine supply chain with QuayConnect had meant that their logistics could handle the increase that has occurred since the earthquake.

“In these stressful times, it is reassuring that our customers have a supply chain they can rely on, and which can continue moving their product through Port Nelson to both domestic and international markets,” Nowell-Usticke says.

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