The recovery of the Kiwifruit industry has helped one privately-held Bay of Plenty trucking company to expand its operations.
According to the Bay of Plenty Times, Omokoroa General Carriers, which has a fleet of 32 trucks, is looking to expand its warehouse storage operations.
Co-owners and brothers John and Brent Leek told the Bay of Plenty Times that they have diversified into storage services.
Last year the company built a 180sq m warehouse, which is being leased by Carter Holt Harvey Packaging to store packaging materials for the kiwifruit industry.
They told the Bay of Plenty times that it aligns with Omokoroa General Carriers’ kiwifruit haulage operations.
John Leek says the trucks carry quite a bit of packaging for the post-harvest operators.
“Carter Holt Harvey can’t make it all at once, so they spread production through the year and have to store it till the harvest season,” he says.
Leek says the company was exploring acquiring another half-hectare of land and planned to expand the warehouse operation.
The business was a two-truck operation in 1994 when the brothers acquired the company, which was once owned by their grandfather, Snow Leek.
Business has been especially strong over the past seven or eight years, with the fleet growing from seven vehicles to the current 32 over the period.
“The kiwifruit industry definitely plays a big part,” says Leek. “And there’s a lot of work that goes on all year round in the industry – it’s not just the harvest season. But we also do general freight. When the demand is there, you keep on going and building.”
