Izone was chosen because it offered a large greenfields site next to the Midland and Main South Lines
8 February 10
Westland Milk Products (Westland) is busy planning the official opening of its new 17,000 square metre dry store facility at Izone.
After outgrowing their central Christchurch site Westland searched for a new home. “Izone was chosen because it offered a large greenfields site next to the Midland and Main South Lines,” says Westland’s supply chain manager Tim Cope. “We then made the decision to purchase the warehouse site to ensure our customers could have full confidence in our entire supply chain.” He says it also helped that land prices in Selwyn are lower than in Christchurch, as are Selwyn District Council rates.
Westland built a railway siding connecting it to the Midland Line to transport goods to and from the West Coast to Izone, and from Izone to the Port of Lyttelton. Tim Cope says rail is extremely important to Westland’s future. “Locating Westland at Izone has resulted in removing the transport equivalent of 6000 truck movements off the roads, which has improved our carbon footprint.”
The new facility doubles Westland’s storage ability and the 7 hectare site future-proofs the business for generations to come.
In April administration staff will arrive from their office in Sir William Pickering Drive and for the first time in three years Westland’s Canterbury staff will be in one location.