The following announcement from KiwiRail concerns changes at Southdown.
We’re proud that our Southdown Container Transfer site is the third largest container handling facility in New Zealand and a critical part of many of our customers’ supply chains. Each year we handle around 450,000 TEU through this site.
Over the past five years we’ve invested over $30 million at Southdown to improve service, resilience and support growth:
• Truck entry laneways have been streamlined for KiwiRail, MetroPort and MetroBox container flows
• New top lifters to meet the growing freight volumes
• New reefer towers to handle increasing demand for temperature controlled cargo
• Upgraded rail grids for MetroPort
• Improved site traffic management systems
We’re now about to introduce two new initiatives to further improve the speed and flow of containers through Southdown for our road transport partners.
Vehicle Booking System to speed-up container throughput
With up to 1,200 trucks visiting our Southdown site each day to either deliver and/or uplift containers, and with only the Port of Tauranga’s Metroport part of the site currently operating a Vehicle Booking System (VBS) we are aware that congestion can become a real issue at certain times, as a result of trucking operators having to queue up to enter the site.
To ensure that the whole site is able to run more smoothly and to provide a more streamlined and faster process for all of our customers, KiwiRail is going to introduce a VBS which will apply to all non-Metroport volumes later this year. This will result in a reduction in average truck queueing times across the whole site.
The VBS will be an online tool, using the same product as that used by the Port of Tauranga’s Metroport operation at Southdown.
This will mean that not only will the whole site now use a VBS, but by having the same system as that already in place with Metroport, it should significantly improve the experience for many operators.
By being able to book specific container delivery or uplift timeslots, it will enable truck arrivals at the site to be more evenly spread across each day.
This will result in faster truck turn times due to reduced queuing times, thereby increasing truck productivity and efficiency and provide a general improvement in on-site safety through a reduction in overall site congestion.
Having the same VBS will also help minimise any training requirements, as trucking companies currently servicing Metroport will already be very familiar with using it and for any new users, we will be arranging all necessary training for your staff at no cost to you.
While there will be a cost for the use of the VBS, just as with all other such systems, we are firmly of the view that the improvements this will provide transport operators through increases in fleet productivity, will provide much greater value than the system’s cost to use.
Please note that we are not currently intending to introduce a VBS at any other of our container transfer sites at this time.
We will provide further updates on this initiative once we have a confirmed start date for the system, including how we plan to roll out the required training we will be providing to all new users.
Certified Weighbridge
We are also going to be installing a brand new, fully certified weighbridge at our Southdown site which will be available for use by both customers and the general public.
It will be positioned near the entrance of the site, so it is easily accessible not just for truck operators wishing to enter the site, but also for those who simply want to have their trucks check-weighed.
At this stage we expect the weighbridge to be commissioned and available for use before the end of the year and we will provide you with more information about processes and proposed charges for using it, prior to it becoming operational.
We trust you will find these as positive enhancements to our services and we look forward to being able to commission both in the near future.