Depot proposal aims to cut down on logging trucks

Funding for a proposal to set up log depots in the lower North Island should lead to fewer logging trucks on busy roads.

The proposal, which would enable logs to be transferred by rail to Wellington for export, has been given funding help by Transfund New Zealand.

The Greater Wellington Regional Council proposal is to set up log depots near Masterton, Marton and Wanganui, allowing the transfer from road to rail freight to Centreport in Wellington.

The council said the project was expected to be commercially viable in three years. Transfund approved funding of up to $3 per tonne of logs carted in the first year of operation, $2 per tonne in the second year and $1 per tonne in the third year. After this, the financial contribution would cease.

Transfund chairwoman Jan Wright said the decision to fund the activity, to a maximum of $2 million over three years, would mean fewer logging trucks on busy state highways such as the Rimutaka Hill road.

"Log harvest in the lower North Island is expected to double from the current one million cubic metres over the next five years, and to treble to three million cubic metres by the mid 2020s," Dr Wright said.

"This is a big increase and without the use of rail would lead to a big increase in the number of logging trucks over the next 20 years."

- NZPA