Toll expected to announce Hamilton freight plans

1.00pm

Toll NZ is expected to confirm within days the timetable for work on a $25 million freight centre at Te Rapa in Hamilton.

The Hamilton City Council has approved an "outline plan of works" on the 18ha of industrial land, and last month issued building permits.

The warehouse and handling facility backing on to the Te Rapa racecourse, will be used mainly by dairy giant Fonterra as a distribution centre for all Waikato-produced dairy products.

More than 60 people will work at the "freight village" with some areas operating on a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week basis.

Dry goods will arrive by road and rail from dairy factories in Te Rapa, Hautapu, Lichfield and Waitoa.

They will then be transported by train from the village to either the Port of Tauranga or Ports of Auckland for exporting. Fonterra is expected to announce this month which will be its preferred port.

The site will be developed in four stages over two years. Toll refused to comment further but the timetable according to its original outline plan is:

* December 2004: stage one, an area where containers can be forklifted from trucks, trains or storage on to full-length trains.

* June 2005: a 35,000sq m dry goods warehouse.

* December 2005: a 15,200sq m area for freight smaller than container lots delivered by the public or couriers. An undercover truck loading area will be attached for transfer consignments from road to rail.

* June 2006: the site will get the bulk of empty containers by rail from Auckland or Tauranga where they will be inspected, cleaned, stored and repaired.

Toll says traffic flows on the road leading to the centre are expected to increase as a result of the development. Currently more than 25,000 vehicles a day use the road.

- NZPA