Specialised chemical storage and dangerous goods transport firm Chemfreight is gearing up to open a major Auckland storage facility certified to manage flammable liquids and gases for the packaged market.
The New Zealand family-owned company has committed $20 million of land and development to the strategically located East Tamaki site.
The facility is believed to be the largest third-party logistics flammable store using full concrete construction in New Zealand or Australia.
It’s expected to be open in July and will service the North Island with overnight transport services allowing next-day metro delivery from Northland to Wellington.
The company already operates three storage facilities that are classified as major hazard facilities (MHF) with two in Auckland and one in Christchurch to service the South Island.
Chemfreight has a fleet of 12 company- owned trucks that provide daily metro deliveries to the Auckland and Christchurch regions.
Nationwide coverage is provided through a network of approved transport partners providing an intra- island overnight service.
The new facility will see Chemfreight add five million litres of storage capacity to the flammable liquid and gas market and will be the company’s fourth flammable facility designed and built from the ground up.
The store is classified as a Type D building under the regulations and has two separate storage bunkers with a building footprint of 5500 square metres.
Chemfreight general manager Joseph Price says he’s not aware of a larger flammable store with this type of construction in New Zealand or Australia.
“The project commenced back in 2015 and we challenged ourselves to design and build a chemical storage facility with a full reinforced concrete roof that would set the benchmark for Type D buildings.”
The facility also had to exceed the regulatory requirements for the safe storage of flammable substances while satisfying council resource consent and building consent requirements.
“We had to go for scale, and we’ve achieved what we set out to do. The design process was comprehensive, incorporating safety in design (SiD) practices right from the outset,” Price says.
“It’s impressive – the roof section alone weighs in at 6000 tonnes of steel-reinforced concrete.
“For the chemical storage industry it’s cutting edge and will add to our existing network to provide specialised facilities that support the safe and compliant storage and handling of flammable liquid and gas products,” Price says.
Construction started in the middle of last year, partnering with Macrennie Commercial Construction.
The facility will hold a wide range of packaged products that are flammable, easily identifiable with a red class 2 or class 3 diamond label and range from paint tins to 1000-litre intermediate bulk containers.
Material stored includes industrial and household solvents like methylated spirits and acetone, alcohol-based sanitisers, paints and stains, and fibreglass resin.
Common flammable gas products like butane gas canisters and consumer aerosols like hair spray will also be stored.
Chemfreight was launched in 1989 and was the first third-party logistics provider that specialised in hazardous storage to the package market. It now operates at seven sites across Auckland and Christchurch with 100 staff.
*This article appeared in the March edition of TransportTalk.
