Port of Tauranga Limited announced today that resource consent has been granted for its intermodal freight hub at Rolleston. In January 2014, the Company purchased 15 hectares of land in the Izone Industrial Park at Rolleston for development as an intermodal freight hub. The Izone development is a 180 hectare industrial park 12 kilometres south of Christchurch. The establishment of the intermodal freight hub will enable the receival, packing and distribution of containerised cargo along with providing empty container depot services.
Port of Tauranga owns a 50% shareholding in PrimePort Timaru and operates its container terminal. Establishing an intermodal freight hub at Rolleston will provide South Island exporters with the option to efficiently access Timaru and similarly, importers in the Christchurch area will have the option to ship through Timaru.
Granting of the consent will allow the construction of the rail siding, pavements and site infrastructure to commence, enabling the freight hub to be operational early in 2015.