A major new inland port has been granted resource consent as Port of Tauranga's southern expansion continues to gather momentum.

That's the message from the port's CEO Mark Cairns, who told the company's recent annual meeting that the Rolleston development was on track.

The Rolleston developmentwill be open for business in early 2015.

'We expect to be open for business here in early 2015, with space for up to 100,000 TEUs per year once it's completed,” says Mark.

The facility includes construction of a two-hectare warehouse for container packing, devanning and cross-docking operations. The facility will also incorporate an empty container servicing depot.

The new facility will be an intermodal freight hub in the mould of PTL's MetroPort Auckland. The hub is just 12 kilometres south of Christchurch, with excellent road and rail connections.

It will have a 500-metre rail siding, big enough for 75 TEU trains. Exporters will be able to aggregate cargo bound for the container terminal at Timaru, and importers will be able to efficiently access the fast-growing Christchurch domestic market.

'I am pleased to report that this has brought immediate benefits and greater choice to South Island importers and exporters,” says Mark.

'Our recent agreement with Kotahi has secured a long term future for our South Island operations and given us the confidence to further progress our hub port expansion plans at Tauranga.”

Port of Tauranga is also looking after northern customers expanding the MetroBox container handling service to a second location in South Auckland, in partnership with Specialised Container Services.

'We also completed the purchase of the 6.8 hectare Gateside Industrial Park, located immediately adjacent to our MetroPort and MetroBox sites at Southdown,” says Mark.

'This site is also nearby to Tapper Transport's freight hub and already includes our MetroPack operation, so this purchase future-proofs our Auckland Intermodal Freight Hub and provides us with future growth options.”

Total cargo shipped across the port increased 3.5% during the financial year.

'We didn't quite reach the 20 million tonne mark, but we will certainly exceed that milestone in the 2015 financial year.”