The Kmart distribution centre has created 100 new jobs and will help secure the retail supply chain in New Zealand. Photo: Libby Kirkby-McLeod / RNZ
The first distribution centre at New Zealand's biggest inland port was opened in Waikato on Wednesday.
The Ruakura Superhub, developed by Tainui Group Holdings, has been a partnership between iwi, central and local government and business, and will eventually remove 65,000 long haul truck journeys a year from the roads between Hamilton, Auckland and Tauranga.
Waikato-Tainui owned and was developing the Ruakura Superhub land. Iwi member Pierre Tohe joked the building was so big, half of the tribe could have attended.
The Kmart distribution centre has created 100 new jobs and will help secure the retail supply chain in New Zealand. But at the heart of the development is planning for future generations, including reducing the carbon effect of transporting goods.
Tainui Group Holdings chief executive Chris Joblin said carbon reduction and sustainability was huge for the iwi, and part of the reason the inland port was developed next to the rail line.
"We look at the long-term, intergenerational impacts of what we are doing."
People gathered to open the Ruakura Superhub in Hamilton. Photo: Libby Kirkby-McLeod / RNZ
John Gualtieri, chief executive of Kmart, said this vision from Waikato-Tainui was important as they considered moving their North Island distribution to Hamilton.
"When you share the same values as your partners, it makes it a lot easier."
He pointed out some of the other features of the building which demonstrated a commitment to sustainability, including solar panels generating up to 300kW of power, rainwater harvesting, onsite stormwater treatment and electronic vehicle charging stations.
Tainui Group Holdings said the centre's structure will also include low VOC (volatile organic compound) paints, LED lighting, double glazing and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems that use low-emission refrigerants, and close to 20 percent of the overall site was landscaped with extensive plantings.
The first distribution centre at New Zealand's biggest inland port was opened in Waikato on Wednesday. Photo: Libby Kirkby-McLeod / RNZ
Waikato-Tainui was not just thinking about future generations though - it was also remembering past ones. Before Governor George Grey sent troops to Waikato in 1863, Ruakura was a key part of how Waikato-Tainui lived and thrived, as Tukoroirangi Morgan explained to the crowd.
"These lands that we stand on represented some of the wheat fields that once grew here in abundance, that formed our economic power in the early 1850s when Waikato-Tainui enjoyed the golden years of its existence. It controlled its lands, it controlled its destiny, it controlled the trade up and down this river into Auckland."
Chris Joblin, CEO, Tainui Group Holdings; John Gualtieri, CEO, Kmart; Heeni Katipa (representing Kiingi Tuheitia); Tumuaki Hone Thompson; Hinerangi Raumati, chair, Tainui Group Holdings; Mayor Paula Southgate. Photo: Libby Kirkby-McLeod / RNZ
Joblin said the inland port and superhub development would help restore that economic power to Waikato-Tainui.
"This is about creating intergenerational wealth and opportunities for our iwi. So one of the critical things we're doing is developing the whenua for and on behalf of the tribe, and that creates that economic base for us to deliver those social initiatives for our people."
Goods trains were already calling into the Ruakura inland port. The Kmart distribution centre will be operational within a couple of weeks, with other businesses also due to open distribution centres at the superhub soon.
