New Zealand's Port of Tauranga expects an eight to 10 per cent rise in box volume now that a deal has been signed with the dairy giant Fonterra Cooperative and logistics firm Kotahi that had diverted Maersk's Southern Star service from Auckland.
The port rotation of the Southern Star service now is: Malaysia's Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Brisbane, Tauranga, Lyttelton and Port Chalmers.
Based on current volumes, the new service will add 70,000 TEU a year at Tauranga, the port company said in a statement, reported TV New Zealand.
It represents an 8.3 per cent gain on the 848,384 TEU Port of Tauranga handled in the 2013 financial year, making it the country's busiest container port.
Kotahi said last month it had agreed to commit 2.5 million export containers to Maersk over a decade, prompting the company's decision to cascade larger 6,500 TEU vessels into the service.
Kotahi will take a 49.9 per cent shareholding in the Timaru Container Terminal and Port of Tauranga will issue one million of its own shares to Kotahi and one million more as volume grows under the terms of the deal, according to Shipping Gazette.
