The Carter Group, the developer of the new $500 million Industrial Port (I PORT), an industrial and logistics park located on 122 hectares of prime industrial-zoned land at Rolleston, Christchurch says it is buoyed by the interest the project is attracting.
“The fact that we share a boundary with the Lyttleton Port Company’s (LPC) MidlandPort and provide direct access to that facility is proving a key attraction for a range of potential clients, especially in the logistics and warehousing sectors,” says Carter Group’s I PORT Director Tim Carter.
“Rolleston is now clearly positioned as the key transport hub for not only Canterbury, but also the whole of the South Island,” he says.
The presence at Rolleston of both the LPC MidlandPort and the Port of Tauranga’s Metroport facilities alongside the I PORT and iZONE business hub is a huge boost for the efficiency of transport for businesses involved in exporting, importing, logistics, industrial and agriculture Carter says.
The Canterbury region remains one of the country’s top performers, posting 16 consecutive quarters of economic growth. Commodity exports such as dry and refrigerated dairy, frozen meats and vegetables are forecast to keep rising due to new irrigation developments. In Central Canterbury alone 60,000 hectares of mostly dryland farms will be transformed by the Central Plains Water Irrigation scheme, increasing agricultural output by an estimated $264 million per year.
