A.P. Moller-Maersk (Maersk) has opened a new state-of-the-art, integrated cold chain facility at the Ruakura Superhub, New Zealand.
With approximately NZD140 million ($86 million) and NZD150 million ($92 million) invested in the Ruakura facility, it reportedly makes it Maersk’s biggest infrastructure investment in the country.
The new facility enables the exchanging of goods between transport modes, such as rail and truck, creating a highly flexible and sufficient supply chain within the Waikato District and wider New Zealand.
Its location sits at the heart of the Golden Triangle, between Auckland and Tauranga, which sees 65 per cent of New Zealand’s total freight flow through the strategic corridor.
Maersk’s new cold chain facility aims to help enhance the region’s thriving economic and freight hub.
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The facility will leverage landside logistic capabilities allowing for larger quantities of imported and exported goods to flow through New Zealand and the wider Asia-Pacific region.
The multimodal 18,000-square-metre facility harnesses the dual-carriage State Highway 1 and direct rail connectivity to the Port of Tauranga and the Port of Auckland and can load 40-foot containers holding 29 tonnes of product onto train carriages.
The cold chain facility aims to help Maersk’s clients keep the quality of their products throughout travel by holding roughly 30,000 pallets of items in both cold rooms and blast freezers.
These blast freezers can reportedly freeze produce down to international food standards in less than 24 hours, locking in the quality and ensuring a fresher product when it reaches its destination.
Maersk has teamed with local iwi (tribe) Waikato-Tainui as owners of the property on which the Ruakura Superhub sits.
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Kylie Fraser, Managing Director of Maersk Oceania, said: “The new facility’s ideal location now seamlessly links the ports of Auckland and Tauranga providing a supply chain for our customers and increasing the volume of possible imports and exports to and from New Zealand, all while retaining the quality of the products.
“Expansion of our product solutions into the cold store segment presents a significant opportunity for our customers to benefit from a state-of-the-art facility, as we transform the New Zealand logistics landscape and connect and simplify our customer’s supply chains.”
In January, Maersk broke ground on its planned Cold Store facility in Mehsana, Gujarat, in western India.
