In August 2016, Forest Enterprises has become an anchor tenant in the redeveloped log hub at the Waingawa rail yard near Masterton.
The facility is a transport hub where logs are delivered by truck, scaled (measured for export volume), and stored pending rail transport to Wellington’s port.
This infrastructure is significant for providing a reliable, scalable solution to our investors who own a Wairarapa forest, for connecting their harvest to the port, the destination for two thirds of the logs. This is an example of Forest Enterprises harnessing the scale and common interests of the investments we manage to create added value.
Forest Enterprises has been utilising rail transport from Waingawa since 2012, and has already transported 468,000 tonne on rail to the port in that time. This volume is an equivalent of 32,000 truck movements that have not travelled on SH2 through Wairarapa and over the Rimutaka Hill road. Looking forward, we expect to be transporting in excess of 400,000 tonne per annum as soon as 2018.
The hub is a joint initiative between Forest Enterprises, CentrePort and KiwiRail, supported by the region’s forestry businesses. In the last 12 months, the facility was extensively upgraded by CentrePort. Their $1m investment is part of building the capacity of the infrastructure to meet the volume of wood expected in the next decade. Forest Enterprises has committed to a long term lease of 50% of the hub to meet the current and future needs of our investors’ harvest.
The significance of the hub is reflected in the Transport Minister Simon Bridges officially opening the hub on 1 August at an event celebrating its success. Forest Enterprises was proud to be recognised, in front of Wairarapa’s forestry sector and local and regional government dignitaries, for its forward thinking and role as anchor partner.
Read more about the hub in these articles:
Stuff
Radio New Zealand
Wairarapa Times-Age
