Crowd turns out for $11m coolstore opening

Guest speakers at the opening were, from left, TKL Logistics chief executive Ian Mearns, Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns and Zespri shipping manager Mike Knowles. Photo/George Novak

The kiwifruit industry turned out in force yesterday to open a new $11 million coolstore at the Port of Tauranga.

Guest speakers at the opening were, from left, TKL Logistics chief executive Ian Mearns, Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns and Zespri shipping manager Mike Knowles.

Built by the port company and leased to Tauranga Kiwifruit Logistics, it was the biggest single commitment in the 17-year history of the company which delivered kiwifruit to the point of export to world markets.

Mearns said the demolition of the old converted cargo shed to make way for the new building showed how important it was to have a coolstore on the wharf.

''There was always going to be some disruption to normal operations during the 2016 season. We didn't know just how much that was going to be,'' he told the 100-plus audience.

The three coolstore rooms covering 4200sq m can store about 5200 pallets of kiwifruit, with an area set aside for Zespri to carry out fruit quality checks. The cooling capacity was more than twice as powerful as the former coolstore, with 72 air exchanges per hour.