Dave Lovegrove PBT chief executive (left) and Chris Joblin, Tainui Group Holdings chief executive. Photo / Supplied
Dave Lovegrove PBT chief executive (left) and Chris Joblin, Tainui Group Holdings chief executive. Photo / Supplied
It's been 14 years on the boil, but Tainui Group Holdings' massive Ruakura freight logistics project is ready to serve with freight operator PBT signed as anchor tenant and building likely to start early next year.
The vast scale of the 605ha project, which spans industrial, commercial, retail and housingdevelopment areas with a 30ha inland port, became apparent on Thursday to those attending a welcome ceremony for PBT on an elevated corner of the site.
The site for a 10,000 sqm building PBT will lease for 10 years with renewal rights is in the project's centre, and yellow earthmovers working near it were specks in the distance.
Infrastructure works will get into full swing before Christmas, with work on first 17ha of the 30ha inland port, a joint venture between TGH and the Port of Tauranga, well under way by late February, said TGH chief executive Chris Joblin.
Construction of the first distribution/warehouse building should follow soon after, with the inland port and adjoining logistics hub on track to open early to mid 2022.
"There's huge demand. It's going to go a lot quicker than people think," said Joblin.
Freight demands and patterns had changed markedly over the past 10 years, accelerated by Covid-19, with consumers wanting their goods "today" and businesses needing big warehouses and dark stores to fulfil online sales, he said.
The development, which lies beside the Waikato Expressway and the East Coast main trunk rail line, is now called the Ruakura Superhub. Initially rail services will be provided by Port of Tauranga's MetroPort trains running between Auckland and Tauranga.
Joblin said it would be "a game changer" for the economic golden triangle of Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty, enabling containers and freight to be moved more easily around the country and removing congestion at ports by moving more freight by rail.
The bulk of the anchoring central 30ha precinct should be completed in the next five years, he said.
TGH will spend $100m on buildings in the first 30ha development area. They will be leased back to tenants. As the project grows TGH may offer a model where a company puts up its own building and leases the ground from TGH.
An artist's impression of the Tainui Group Holdings development at Ruakura, near Hamilton. Photo / Supplied
Provision of services infrastructure for the whole site will cost TGH $105m, Joblin said.
None of the Ruakura land, returned to Waikato-Tainui in the 1996 settlement, will ever be sold. Joblin said the land had been valued but declined to elaborate, saying only it was "in the hundreds of millions".
Ruakura has been supported by $16.8m from the Government's Provincial Growth Fund, $40m from the state's "shovel ready project" account, and $5m from the Hamilton City Council.
TGH would match this funding, Joblin said.
"But this is not about money. It's about bringing a vision to life and realising the aspirations of many people post-settlement. It's about creating employment opportunities."
PBT chief executive Dave Lovegrove told the Herald negotiations with TGH had been under way for six months but Ruakura had been on the company's radar for two or three years.
"We are confident that the whole development is at a turning point. It's been a vision for a long time but when we saw the commitment of Port of Tauranga and the expressway ... Investment in infrastructure is important, particularly in the golden triangle."
The lease deal struck with TGH was "commercial and competitive".
PBT initially will have a 4000 sqm logistics facility but is planning for growth there.
It starts occupancy in September 2022, following the opening of the inland port, two 800m rail sidings, local link roads and access to the Waikato Expressway, all scheduled to open earlier that year.
PBT has 21 branches, including in Hamilton, and had a team of more than 800 people, including owner-drivers, Lovegrove said.
Formerly Peter Baker Transport, it has been 75 per cent owned since 2017 by private equity firm Waterman Capital.
