The New Zealand Transport Agency has allowed Fonterra to increase the tonnage of milk hauled by its road tanker fleet.
The move's to allow the dairy giant to cope with the extra production that has resulted from highly favourable growing conditions up and down the country.
The co-operative's road tanker fleet will be able to collect an additional 1.2 million litres of milk every day for the next three months, thanks to a temporary increase in loading limits, it said today.
Fonterra said government agencies had given it approval to increase the operating weight of its tankers from 44 tonnes to 45 tonnes until the end of year.
A one-tonne increase in operating weight means every tanker can collect an additional 1000 litres of milk on every run. Fonterra has 450 tankers on the road during peak production.
The Transport Agency, with the support of MAF, granted Fonterra a permit in accordance with the Land Transport Act, after receiving an application from Fonterra.
The one-tonne operating weight increase was well within the design capacity of the tankers, Fonterra said.