The 21,200sqm facility on a 3ha section holds up to 16,500 pallets of chilled and frozen food ready to distribute to retail and food service businesses via the company’s 180 temperature-controlled trucks and trailers.
Big Chill chief executive Phil Clarke says the new site allows the company to better service its customers far wider than the Bay of Plenty and Auckland regions alone.
“We’ve been able to increase our warehousing capacity by 30% at Ruakura and can now increase same day and overnight delivery services. We chose the site for its location and increased access to a comprehensive network of road and rail,” says Clarke.
“It means we can spread the load between not only our Putaruru and Auckland depots, but all eleven of our facilities across the country to give our customers a more efficient storage and delivery service.”
Big Chill will make extensive use of Ruakura Inland Port and expects to move around 70 20-foot containers per week via rail alone.
“Having the inland port and State Highway 1 a stone’s throw away is creating efficiencies we couldn’t have achieved at our other depots. Tainui Group Holdings has been fantastic to work with. The team has thought of everything to make the process seamless, and we’re really proud to be a part of the Superhub,” says Clarke.