The biggest container ships to call at New Zealand will be using the expanded and deepened Port of Tauranga sooner than expected following Tuesday's announcement by Maersk Lines, Kotari and the Port of Tauranga Ltd.

The port dredging programme will be completed in August and the Maersk line 9500 TEU, 348m long ship will begin weekly calls late September, en-route from South American to Asian ports.

Maersk Line Oceania Managing Director Gerard Morrison, Kotahi Chief Executive David Ross and Port of Tauranga Chief Executive Mark Cairns on course to usher in a new era in global ocean freight, introducing the largest container ship to ever visit New Zealand in time for the peak export season.

The new ships are designed specifically for the South America and Asia markets with a uniquely high proportion of refrigeration plugs to move chilled products around this region. These are comparable characteristics for New Zealand.

Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns says Port of Tauranga is pleased to see the upgraded infrastructure will be utilised so promptly.

'The final stage dredging work will be completed in August as part of a $350 million capital investment programme to develop the infrastructure to become a port capable of handling larger ships,” says Mark.

'This gives us the opportunity to continue providing our customers with premium ocean freight solutions from a range of carriers. We're proud to be part of an innovative collaboration keeping New Zealand businesses competitive on the world stage.

'In addition, Port of Tauranga has been working closely with KiwiRail on upgrading train services to meet an increase in demand of cargo travelling between Tauranga and Auckland.”

Maersk Line Oceania managing director Gerard Morrison says a catalyst for Maersk Line bringing larger ships to New Zealand is the collaborative partnership with Kotahi.

'Maersk Line's existing Triple Star service will now link its northbound export calls into the company's South America – North Asia (AC) service offering a fast weekly connection to North Asia providing New Zealand exporters with a sustainable, direct service to important markets including Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan,” says Gerard.

'To complement the recently announced southbound service, the enhanced Triple Star will increase its frequency from fortnightly to weekly, and from late September, call at Port of Tauranga, arriving from Chile.”

The opportunity is enabled by the export volumes from South America to Asia which enables New Zealand exporters to participate in a large, efficient network that introduces the North-Asia direct connection on the Triple Star service.

'This new generation 9500 TEU vessel is more fuel efficient on a per-container basis and will reduce the carbon footprint of the ocean freight component of New Zealand exports by a minimum of 22 per cent per container unit, compared to the existing New Zealand industry average,” says Gerard.

Kotahi Chief Executive David Ross says the new era of big ship visits to New Zealand is possible through Kotahi's collaboration with exporters, Maersk Line and Port of Tauranga.

'Two years ago, Kotahi entered separate long-term agreements with Port of Tauranga and Maersk Line to lay the groundwork to bring larger, more sustainable and efficient vessels on to the country's key trade lanes,” says David.

'It's fantastic to see this now being delivered in a shorter timeframe than originally envisaged.

'The arrival of larger ships to our waters is a key milestone for New Zealand on its journey to become a more efficient export nation. The new Triple Star enhances services to Asia, and the recently announced South Pacific Express achieves a direct service to South America, enabling New Zealand to better compete with export nations which have big ships on their main trade routes.

'Building on the success of the Triple Star, this service provides a sustainable ocean freight offering for our customers as we work with Maersk Line, and a range of other carriers, to continually find the most efficient route to move products to over 440 destination ports or inland facilities within 139 countries around the world.

"We're pleased with this smart solution because it has brought efficiencies, by combining cargo and sharing the capacity, with other nations.”

The journey to larger ship visits spurred a focus to find efficiencies in land-based transport networks to better co-ordinate truck and rail movements says David.

As part of this, Coda Group, Kotari's joint venture with Port of Tauranga, recently launched the Coda intermodal freight hub, Savill Drive, Auckland, which brings together import, export and domestic cargo flows into one place, to create efficiencies in the New Zealand supply chain.

Kotahi is New Zealand's largest supply chain collaboration, and works together with exporters, importers and logistics partners to create a sustainable, secure export supply chain.

Kotahi, is a joint venture between Fonterra Co-Operative and Silver Fern Farms, was launched in 2011 and its name means ‘standing together as one'.

Whether it is seafood, timber, pulp, meat, hides, wool, dairy, seeds or pharmaceutical products, Kotahi helps more than 40 companies get closer to their global customers.