Port Nelson’s QuayConnect has handled an additional 40% of wine freight across the top of the South Island since the November 14 earthquake.
QuayConnect is a Nelson – Marlborough integrated warehousing, transport and logistics service established by Port Nelson in February this year as a more sustainable way of distributing goods.
In partnership with Central Express Ltd, QuayConnect’s model optimises import and export loads, reducing the number of trucks on the road without reducing freight movement across the regions.
QuayConnect’s Eugene Beneke says Port Nelson has quickly scaled up the service to ensure it met the transport and storage needs of the majority of the country’s wine industry.
“It is important for our winemakers to know that their businesses will survive this – that they can keep production going and their staff employed,” says Beneke says. “It is also important that international markets know that the supply chain is working.”
“We’ve had no earthquake damage at Port Nelson so through QuayConnect we have been able to lend extra support to those who need it now, and are already ready for when the 2017 vintage hits,” he says.
“This is an opportunity for consolidation and rationalisation, rather than proliferation, and through industry collaboration a solution can be developed,” says Beneke.
Before the earthquake, Port Nelson had been managing 80% of the South Island’s wine exports and 90% of the inbound dry goods across the wharves.
QuayConnect also provided warehousing and distribution to approximately 50% of Marlborough wine industry.
Since the earthquake Port Nelson has advanced its existing growth plans to assist further; two additional truck and trailers arrive next week to meet the new demand to and from Marlborough, and the company is recruiting more logistics and transport staff.
