‘Game changer’: Ashburton’s new freight hub to move trucks off highway
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
The new Fairfield Freight Hub has been described as a "game changer" for Mid Canterbury, which will help shift trucks off the busy highway and keep Ashburton moving.
Minister of Transport Simeon Brown attended the official opening of the hub on Friday, although it has been operational since April 8.
Wareing Group director Mark Wareing said the hub will streamline freight volumes in and out of Mid Canterbury and reduce the impact of trucks on roads.
“It’s setting the region up for a lower carbon future and the location near the Northpark Industrial Park is ideally located to take advantage of this new hub.
“Helping exporters and freight partners move more freight by rail makes sense both from a business and sustainability perspective and will help stabilise the supply chain issues our clients and their customers are facing.”
Wareing worked with Talley’s to secure the existing rail siding site at the former freezing works site for the hub, but he has always credited former Rangitata MP Jo Luxton for her assistance in getting the project across the line.
The hub development cost $18 million, with a $2.5m contribution from the Government’s NZ Upgrade Programme and $2.3m from the Ashburton District Council.
It’s a project Ashburton mayor Neil Brown has been looking forward to for a long time.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for over six years, right from when I got the first phone call from Mark asking for assistance in getting the rail yard moved from the centre of Ashburton.
“Mark had the vision to get trucks off our congested state highway and put the containers that transport the goods onto rail.”
The hub will have several benefits for Mid Canterbury, Brown said.
“Significantly reducing shunting in the centre of town means locals aren’t stuck at level crossings anymore while wagons are connected or disconnected.
“It’s been a great collaboration and will be an asset for our district.”
Quigley feeds director Andrew Quigley described the hub as a “game changer for exporters in Mid Canterbury” who will be able to get direct access to ports via rail.
Since the project planning began, the Wareing Group took over running the shunting yard in central Ashburton and increased the volume from 2,000 containers per year to almost 6000.
KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy said working with the Wareing Group to move operations to Fairfield will increase the amount of local freight carried by rail from 6,000 to 20,000 containers a year.
“That’s half a million tonnes of freight off the region’s roads – the equivalent of 40,000 truck movements – which helps manage road maintenance costs.
“And given rail offers 70% fewer emissions compared to heavy road freight, it’s a substantial reduction in transport emissions.
“Inter-modal hubs like the Fairfield Freight Hub make use of both road and rail transport – enabling trucks to complete the first and last mile of collection and delivery, and for rail to do the heavy longer-distance movements.”
While it was built to get more trucks off-road, the hub has been called into action to help put more trucks on the road due to the flood-damaged rail bridge over the Rangitata River.
With all train movements over the bridge being suspended, the hub has been utilised to keep rail freight moving between Invercargill and Christchurch.
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Ashburton’s second bridge cost bumped up
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
The cost to build Ashburton’s second bridge has leapt to $130 million as questions remain on how it will be funded.
The council has kept its contribution at $7.5m, despite the estimated price jumping by 15% in two years.
Ashburton Council chief executive Hamish Riach provided councillors with an update on the second bridge after he recently met with Minister of Transport Simeon Brown.
The Government has made the bridge, a key State Highway 1 route in Canterbury, a national transport priority.
Minister Brown made it clear that the council would need to look for funding in the National Land Transport programme process, Riach said.
That will start with conversations between the council and NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi around “innovative funding mechanisms”.
After meeting, Riach and Mayor Neil Brown reached out to NZTA regional relationships director James Caygill about “actively getting on with those conversations with their funding people”.
The National Land Transport programme is an investment package for priority transport projects.
For a project to be included in the National Land Transport Programme it has to feature in a council’s long-term plan, Riach said.
The council has chosen to keep the $7.5m figure in its budget planning, even though the cost of the project has increased.
The business case prepared in 2022 estimated the project – a 360m-long bridge across the Ashburton/Hakatere River and new road infrastructure - would cost $113m.
An NZTA document prepared in November estimated the project will cost between $100-$200m.
A recent report from Infometrics, commissioned by Local Government New Zealand, found that over the last three years, costs have gone up significantly and bridges are 38% more expensive to build.
“We note the bridge is programmed to cost $130m and our share, at $7.5m, may or may not survive the whole funding process.
“A lot is going on in this space that is incredibly uncertain.”
The council will adopt its LTP in June – including the $7.5m figure – before knowing what the NLTP entails, Riach said.
“It makes for a messy picture for this project in our formal plans and budgets.”
The minister acknowledged the need for the bridge - easing congestion and improving safety on SH1 - and as a result, the subsidy rate “needed to reflect the improvement to the state highway network”, Riach said.
“We took from that, that a subsidy rate ahead of our normal FAR (funding assistance rate) was entirely justified.”
Rather than a 51% FAR subsidy the business case suggested a 62%, but the question remains how to fill the gap between 62% and 100%, Riach said.
Mayor Brown said the minister also spoke of the Government looking at different ways of funding roading going forward.
This included the possibility of road tolls, Riach said.
“He reiterated that it is certainly his intention to review the way in which tolling is a mechanism for funding projects a little bit later in the year.”
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No tolls without law change
Under legislation, tolls can only be placed on state highways, not on a local road, which is what the second bridge is considered to be.
It also prevents an NZTA toll from raising funds for a council project – so a toll on the existing SH1 bridge couldn’t be used to fund the new local road bridge.
A legislative change could see the possibility of introducing a toll on the existing SH1 Ashburton/Hakatere Bridge or on the second bridge to pay for the project.
There are currently only three toll roads in New Zealand – the Northern Gateway Toll Road north of Auckland, the Tauranga Eastern Link Toll Road, and the Takitimu Drive Toll Road, both in Tauranga.
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