FUEL EFFICIENCY IMPACTS OF FONTERRA'S CRAWFORD ST DAIRY FREIGHT HUB
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Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s
Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
MURRAY KING & FRANCIS SMALL CONSULTANCY LIMITED 5th Floor | Axon House | 1 Willeston Street | Wellington | PO Box 2884 Telephone: 04 473 3364 | or 04 473 3368 | Fax: 04 472 8620 Email: murray.king@xtra.co.nz | or francis.small@xtra.co.nz
Contents
Executive Summary 2
Background 3
Description of the stores and operations 4
Plants 5
Reasons for having a central hub 7
Fonterra’s reasons 7
Transport patterns prior to Crawford St 9
Transport patterns with Crawford St 11
Methodology 13
Fuel consumption before Crawford St (loaded) 14
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
Fuel consumption AFTER Crawford St (loaded) 15
Northland and Bay of Plenty 15
Summary of loaded fuel use 15
Empty return movements 16
Overall result 16
Acknowledgements 17
1
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
Executive Summary
much more use of rail in the waikato and
reduced truck movements... have combined
to produce a nearly 20% saving in fuel... and
in CO2 emissions.
Since 2005, Fonterra has centralised its storage and packing Crawford St has thus rationalised the movement of dairy
for its Waikato plants on a large dry and cool store facility at product. This rationalisation has saved transport, in terms
Crawford St in Hamilton. This has enabled it to rationalise of a reduction in net tonne kilometres. It has also enabled
the storage and transport of its products in the Waikato, with much more use of rail in the Waikato (and reduced truck
some consequential changes for the distribution pattern for movements). These two impacts have combined to produce
Northland and Bay of Plenty plants as well. a nearly 20% saving in fuel, some three quarters of a million
litres, and a consequential saving in CO2 emissions of nearly
Crawford St is an example of a growing trend internationally 2000t. These savings are annual savings, if the pattern stays
and in New Zealand to centrally locate “hub” aggregation or constant.
distribution centres. They typically are built at points which
enable a transfer of freight from road to rail, to make use of
rail’s volume, efficiency and sustainability advantages.
These apply to Crawford St too, with the additional
advantage of improving the flexibility of international
shipping arrangements, as the site is nearly equidistant from
the ports of Auckland and Tauranga. Containers packed at
Crawford St can be readily railed to either port.
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
This study is a quantification of the transport and fuel
impacts of the changes in transport following the opening
of Crawford St. It calculates the transport flows in 2005 and
2010 for road and rail, summing each origin and destination
from data supplied by Fonterra. It then applies fuel use
factors for each mode.
Prior to Crawford St, dairy products were sent direct from
plant to ship, or to stores on the port. Containers were
largely packed at the port. Additionally some product
was sent to local stores and could be moved a number of
times between different stores. Road transport was used
extensively. With Crawford St, the pattern is simpler most
product is collected from the plants, by road or rail, sent to
Crawford St, packed in containers there, and then railed to
Auckland of Tauranga.
2
Background
Fonterra is an export business and an important part of
the costs of its products in final markets is transport and
logistics, both onshore and offshore. As well, it is a seasonal
business, and while it strives to sell product as it is made,
the pronounced seasonal peaks in milk production make
that difficult and lead to the need to store product prior to
shipment.
Some products, like cheese, need storage as part of the
production process (for maturation), and product can be
stored over two or more seasons.
As well, the volume of goods that needs shipping, the range
of products made, the large number of destinations, and
the dynamics of the market mean that there is considerable
value in having flexibility to choose between ship services
and ports, often at short notice.
Fonterra is continually evolving its distribution strategy, and
the inland links that are part of it. In this context it decided
to build a new centrally located store and container packing
facility on former railway marshalling yard land at Crawford
St in Hamilton. In 2005 it opened a dry store for milk
powders and similar products. This was later followed by a
cool store for storage of butter and cheese, and maturation
of cheese. This opened in 2009 and was fully functional by
February 2010.1
Most products of the Fonterra factories in the Waikato area
are now moved through this facility, replacing a complex
and extensive pattern of moves both direct to port and
through off-site stores.
The development of the hub has facilitated the use of rail for
delivery to the port and rail is now also used between plants
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
and Crawford St. Prior to its development, there was more
use of road transport.
It has freed up capacity in stores in Auckland and Tauranga,
giving more space for product produced in Northland and
the Bay of Plenty, and thus also simplified transport patterns
from those plants.
The increased concentration of storage on one major site,
the reduction in the overall transport task and the increased
use of rail, are likely to have resulted in less fuel being used
in the overall transport of Fonterra’s product to ship’s side.
This study is aimed at quantifying that impact.
1 As Fonterra’s logistics strategy continues to evolve, the role of this hub is likely to change from storage to flow – higher throughput
with less dwell time in the store. As a result it will have greater throughput capacity than now, and may draw product from a wider
catchment, for example from Taranaki.
3
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
Description of the stores and operations
The dry store has an area of 35,000m2, and the cool store The following diagram illustrates the Crawford St pattern:
20,000m2. Annual capacity depends on throughput, which
in turn depends on the balance between storage and
Road
packing roles. The cool store’s throughput was forecast at Rail (Principally)
235,000t in 2010; the dry store’s throughput is 360,000t.
Te Rapa
Product from individual plants is transported to Crawford St
Waitoa Auckland
by road and rail. Because Te Rapa is not connected to the rail
network, its product is delivered the 8km by road. Te Rapa
is a large-scale plant and its product makes up an important
part of the throughput of Crawford St. As well, about 40% Morrinsville Hautapu
of the remaining input to Crawford St comes from other
Waikato plants by road. As a consequence, most of the
product into Crawford St is by road. Tauranga
Te Awamutu Tirau
Nevertheless significant volumes (about a third) of the input Lichfield
are moved by rail. All the other Waikato plants have direct
connection to the rail network. A local train service picks up
product at each of the plants as required2. Rail deliveries at KiwiRail offers a number of train services from its container
Crawford St take place inside the stores on a dedicated track. terminal to both Auckland and Tauranga on a daily basis.
Fonterra has requested that the actual pattern of port use
from Crawford St not be revealed, so details of train services
are not given. KiwiRail is also able to be flexible in organising
its train services to meet demand, so the number of services
will vary according to need. Volume can be readily switched
from one port to another and the actual pattern of port use
can be very dynamic. In principle, additional trains could be
run so that increased volume could be carried on either route.
There remains direct movement of product from plants
to the ports by road and rail. Containers that are directly
consigned from the plant to the port by rail are also brought
into the container transfer terminal and sent from there
to the port. A similar pattern existed before the Crawford
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
St stores were built. This mode of working is efficient for
Fonterra Cool (left, nearest) and Dry Stores (upper left) at KiwiRail, as it reduces shunting (containers are transferred
Crawford St. Photo courtesy Fonterra at central points rather than wagons sorted). On the other
hand it does introduce some circuitous routing for product
exported through Tauranga. Thus, as an example, product
from Morrinsville to Tauranga is railed via Hamilton.
In the dry store product may be stored and then packed,
or packed with only a short dwell time. Packing is into The actual direct routes by road and rail are also different.
international shipping containers, both 20ft and 40ft3, For example, Crawford St to Auckland Port the road route
in purpose-designed loading docks. These containers are is 123km whereas the railway runs via Pukekohe and is
then loaded onto KiwiRail wagons at its adjacent container 136km long. On the other hand, from Crawford St to Sulphur
transfer terminal. Point is 114km by road and only 103km by rail. Some of the
Waikato plants are closer to Crawford St by road, and some
In the cool store, product is not only stored, but in the
by rail. All these circuitous routes are accounted for in the
case of cheese, is also matured. The cool store is divided
road:rail comparisons in this study.
into five rooms which can be set at different temperatures
and cheese can be moved between them as part of the
maturation process. Previously this often involved a transfer 2
All rail freight services analysed in this report are diesel hauled. Most of the
relevant network is not electrified. A small part is electrified (Te Awamutu –
by truck between different cool stores. Product is also
Hamilton), but it is not effective to use electric locomotives over such short
delivered by rail directly into this store, packed in containers distances, nor for collection of freight from industrial plants.
and the loaded containers moved a short distance to the 3
Container sizes are still universally described in imperial units. Metric
railway container transfer terminal. equivalents are 2.6m (8ft 6in) high, 2.9m (9ft 6in) high; 6.1m (20ft)
long; 7.6m (25ft) long, 12.2m (40ft) long.
4Plants
Fonterra has seven producing sites in the Waikato which The rail distances are official KiwiRail track distances from
contribute product to the store. In Fonterra’s terminology, the stations or sidings of the same name, supplemented by
each site can have several plants for different products. calculations from Google Earth. Crawford St is measured at
The sites are (in order of distance from Crawford St):4 and the midpoint of the dry store.
what they produce.
Road distances were calculated by Waikato Regional
• Te Rapa – powders, butter, cream cheese, AMF Council’s GIS team. Their Crawford St point was at the
(Anhydrous Milk Fat) entrance to the facility near the boundary between the cool
and dry stores. The road route chosen was the shortest using
• Te Awamutu – milk powders, butter, AMF
reasonable quality roads and favouring the use of state
• Hautapu – cheese, lactose, casein, proteins highways.
• Morrinsville – butter and powders In the years before the opening of Crawford St, the pressure
• Waitoa – powders on other stores, including third party stores, was such
that output from Northland and Bay of Plenty plants was
• Tirau – casein, ingredients, ethanol. Ethanol is not impacted. Instead of flowing directly to the stores on the
handled at Crawford St and is not included in this study ports at Tauranga, Mt Maunganui and Auckland, some of
• Lichfield – cheese, lactose, casein, proteins this product was also held in third party stores, as Waikato
product competed for space in the port stores.
Flows through the Canpac packing plant adjacent to The plants in Northland are at Kauri and Maungaturoto
Crawford St were also included. and in the Bay of Plenty are at Edgecumbe and Reporoa. To
assess the overall impact of Crawford St, these plants are
The distances between Crawford St and the production sites
included, but analysed separately.
are as follows:
In all cases only product for export has been considered. An
assessment of domestic product has been made by Fonterra,
Table 1 Distances to Crawford St based on destination, and excluded from the analysis.
Quantities are small compared with the export volume.
Site Rail (km) Road (km)
Te Rapa n.a. 8 Three plants (Reporoa, Edgecumbe and Tirau) make ethanol,
as well as other products. This is handled in an entirely
Te Awamutu 28 35
different way and the establishment of Crawford St has not
Hautapu 25 26 impacted on its distribution. In any case, it is largely for
Morrinsville 31 39 domestic consumption. It too is excluded.
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
Waitoa 43 51
Moves to ports other than Auckland and Tauranga have also
Tirau 82 61 been excluded. They are likely to be special arrangements
Lichfield 102 81 to meet a particular ship, e.g. on a change of schedule,
and again are not impacted by Crawford St. From the data
available, these flows are not large.
4
Product descriptions from www.fonterra.com.
Map 1 (next page) shows the area covered by this study.
It shows the principal ports in the region, the roads and
railways, and the location of Fonterra’s Northland and Bay of
Plenty plants. Map 2 (see page 8) shows the Waikato region,
roads, and railways and Fonterra plants and locations. It also
shows some of the stores used (mainly in 2005) outside the
actual plants.
5Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
Map 1: Area covered by study
Legend
1N Fonterra plant name
Fonterra plant location
Port name
15
14
Port location
1N
Railway
State Highway
Regional Authority Boundary
12
1N
1N
16
1N
1A
17
1N
16
18 25
1N
16
20
25 25
20A
20
1
25
22
1
25
2
25 26
2
25
1
27 2
26
2
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
1 1B 27
26
39
2
23 26
1B
23 29
21 24 2
3 1
29 36
29
1 27
28 33
1
5
39
28 5
31 30
3 1
31
3
37
5
3
1
30
32
38
30 30
30
4
3
32
0 10 20 30 40 50
EECA report Kilometres
Scale 1:1,000,000
A3
Map 1: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DISCLAIMERS
Digital Boundary Data sourced from Statistics New Zealand.
Northern Nth Island Cadastral information derived from Land Information New Zealand's Landonline Cadastral Database.
CROWN COPYRIGHT RESERVED.
Created by:LMT Status: State Highway data sourced from Transit New Zealand.
Projection:NZTM Request No.:21379 Railway data supplied by Ontrack as at May 2008 - Copyright Reserved.
Date:4 August 2011 File name:21379_v3.gws
DISCLAIMER: While Waikato Regional Council has exercised all reasonable skill and care in controlling the contents of this information, Waikato Regional Council accepts no liability in contract, tort or otherwise howsoever, for any loss, damage, injury or
expense (whether direct, indirect or consequential) arising out of the provision of this information or its use by you.
6Reasons for having a central hub
Hubs are used in many other industries, particularly in the
distribution of consumer goods. There are a number of
reasons for involving a hub in the logistics chain.
They help take a supply chain perspective, as they give
access to all modes and have the volume to make efficient
use of them, reducing overall supply chain costs. This
includes improving the frequency of connections and
reliability of delivery times.
They enable road to rail interchange, or local truck to line
haul truck, and allow the weight and volume advantages to
be captured. This is an important rationale for distribution
centres for consumer goods, but also applies to Crawford St.
It is the classic role for ports and rail terminals. One of the Fonterra’s reasons6
key aspects of Crawford St is the availability of KiwiRail’s
In Fonterra’s case there were a number of more specific
container transfer facility right alongside the dry store, and
reasons for the hub.
readily accessible from it and the cool store.
It provided increased storage for output from plants in the
A related hub advantage is the ability to change
region and in the case of cheese, a modern maturation
consignment size. In Crawford St’s case, this is the change
facility. It also gave a modern and efficient packing facility.
from pallet load (albeit some comes in 25ft containers) to
20 and 40ft container loads for export. This is facilitated by This storage enabled the use of third-party stores to be
the easy ability to ship 40ft containers from the site by rail. reduced, and the complex transport patterns to be simplified
For road, 40ft containers of dairy product can be too heavy and transport lessened.
to ship under normal road limits, and most product direct
from plants to port is break-bulk, with the containers packed The facility at Crawford St is in a strategic location nearly
at the port. The introduction of higher mass and dimension equidistant to Auckland and Tauranga ports. Fonterra
limits for trucks with the High Productivity Motor Vehicle needs frequency of shipping services to its markets, which
scheme has made it possible for these containers to be used only major ports can provide. The location means they can
on roads, where there are permits issued. So far permits choose either port for a given shipment. This also insulates
have not been issued for movements to or from Crawford St. Fonterra to some extent from the impacts of changes lines
frequently make to the ports their ships call at, both ad hoc
A further reason for using a hub is aggregation, with storage to meet schedules and recover from disruptions, and longer
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
at a central point. This was the basic model for building the term to secure new trades or better prices from the ports.
Crawford St dairy freight hub.
Its location on a rail line enabled Fonterra to intensify its
Aggregation into bigger units and the use of rail brings use of rail, with cost and sustainability benefits. It also
environmental advantages in terms of fuel use and fewer enabled the efficient use of rail for Te Rapa’s output, which
emissions. Fewer trucks also gives safety, pollution, is not connected directly to rail. Hitherto most of this plant’s
congestion and amenity benefits to residents and other output went by road to the ports.
road users. The changes in fuel use discussed below suggest
a reduction of nearly 9,000 truck movements5 a year The environmental and sustainability reasons have also
from Waikato sites. In addition, the average haul distance been emphasised by Fonterra. Fonterra is a large generator
went down by 45%, so truck-kilometres, a better measure of vehicle movement in the Waikato due to milk collection
of safety, pollution and amenity exposure, and of road and would be even larger if the output from the plants
maintenance saving, fell by 53%. also moved by road. Fonterra has been able to point to
significant numbers of trucks removed from the roads as
Hubs in major cities, such as inland ports, also help reduce a result of the Crawford St facility, and the consequent
or by-pass congestion. This is more important in Auckland greenhouse gas savings.
than in Hamilton; though the Crawford St site could be
viewed as an inland port, with direct services by rail to
either the Auckland or Tauranga ports. As a substantial 5
Total loaded and empty.
proportion of the reduced movements involved travel
6
This section (and the comments on Fonterra policy in the previous
through central Auckland, the change has contributed to
section) is based on presentations by Fonterra executives to the NZ
reducing congestion there. Rail and NZ Transport Summit conferences in 2011, and from other
published sources.
7Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
Map 2: Fonterra sites, Waikato roads and railway lines
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
Legend
Fonterra plant name
Fonterra plant location
Selected store name
Selected Store location
Railway
State Highway
Regional Authority Boundary
0 5 10 15 20 25
EECA report Kilometres
Scale1:500,000
A3
Map 2: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DISCLAIMERS
Digital Boundary Data sourced from Statistics New Zealand.
Waikato Region Cadastral information derived from Land Information New Zealand's Landonline Cadastral Database.
CROWN COPYRIGHT RESERVED.
Created by:LMT Status: State Highway data sourced from Transit New Zealand.
Projection:NZTM Request No.:21379 Railway data supplied by Ontrack as at May 2008 - Copyright Reserved.
Date:25 July 2011 File name:21379_v3.gws
DISCLAIMER: While Waikato Regional Council has exercised all reasonable skill and care in controlling the contents of this information, Waikato Regional Council accepts no liability in contract, tort or otherwise howsoever, for any loss, damage, injury or
expense (whether direct, indirect or consequential) arising out of the provision of this information or its use by you.
8Transport patterns prior to Crawford St
Prior to Crawford St, export product from Fonterra’s plants Some product, particularly coolstore product, was initially
in the Waikato was handled in several ways. moved from the plant stores to Fonterra and third party
owned stores in the Waikato. These moves were for both
Some product was sent from stores at the plant direct to storage and maturation purposes. Moves to further stores
Auckland or Tauranga for loading on a ship. This was usually could follow before the product was exported. These stores
containerised and used rail. Substantial quantities moved in included Komakarau and Kerepehi (former dairy production
this way from Te Awamutu to both Auckland and Tauranga, sites), Tamahere, Waharoa and Cambridge. These are shown
and lesser amounts from Lichfield, Hautapu and Te Rapa, on Map 2.
mainly to Sulphur Point or Mt Maunganui.
Road transport was used extensively, especially as some of
A more common movement was by road to port or Fonterra the stores were not on rail routes. As well, as noted, most
owned stores on Auckland port, Sulphur Point, and to a of Te Rapa’s output was moved by road to the port stores.
lesser extent Mt Maunganui. This typically moved in break- Overall, however, in terms of tonne kilometres, just over half
bulk form (in pallet loads) to these stores where it was (52%) of the Waikato dairy traffic was moved by rail in 2005.
packed into containers for export from the respective port.
Most of these flows were from Te Rapa. Map 3 (see page 10) shows in diagrammatic form the
pattern of flows in the Waikato prior to Crawford St. Note
Some product was moved to third party stores in the port that the map is drawn to scale, to show the relative sizes
town and then to port stores by road for packing, or shipside of the various flows. For confidentiality reasons, the scale
in containers. These third party stores are in Mt Maunganui is not shown. The map excludes through-movements from
off wharf, and at Sulphur Point on wharf, where in both cases Northland to Tauranga and Bay of Plenty to Auckland, and
the distances to the port are relatively short, and in South excludes all minor flows.
Auckland, where distances to the port are from 11 to 34km.
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
9Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
Map 3: Road rail and dairy product flows in the Waikato region, 2005
Map 3: road and rail dairy product flows
in the Waikato region, 2005
Auckland Port North
South Auckland Stores
Kerepehi
Waitoa
Komakorau Tauranga
Ports
Morrinsville
Te Rapa
BoP Stores
Hamilton Rail Waharoa
incl Canpac Tamahere
Hautapu
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
Cambridge
Tirau
Te Awamutu
Regional
Lichfield Boundary
Rail volumes
Road volumes
r
Note; flow routes are indicative only to Rive
and may not follow actual road/rail network Waika
10Transport patterns with Crawford St
The most obvious impact of Crawford St was to reduce proportion was 60:40, in either direction, the impact is only
the overall tonne kilometres. Traffic overall in the Waikato 2.2% on Waikato rail net tonne kilometres (2.2% more if
reduced by nearly 25% in the data provided. Northland and Auckland is 60%, 2.2% less if Tauranga is 60%).
Bay of Plenty traffic reduced by over 25%.
Road was still an important mode, however, with 25% of all
The change can be attributed in part to a difference in tonne-kilometres and 7% of these comming from the flow of a
total output from 2005 and 2010. The 2010 volume from large tonnage over the short distance from Te Rapa to Crawford
Waikato plants was 15% lower than in 2005, but this does St. Other important road flows were from other plants,
not necessarily mean overall production was higher in 2005; particularly Te Awamutu into Crawford St, and some flows from
the difference also includes the impact of changing types plants direct to ports, again, particularly Te Awamutu.
of product (butter and cheese are denser than powders, for
example, creating more tonnes for shipment) and different There remained some flows by road to other stores,
allocations to domestic use. especially in South Auckland, but interestingly also some
vestiges of the former pattern, e.g. movement to storage at
The data can be adjusted by reducing the 2005 data to 2010 Kerepehi.
levels. This is done at the overall Waikato level to exclude
the impacts of change of product type and production There were also road deliveries to Canpac International, on
levels at individual plants within the region. Fonterra makes an adjacent site. As noted, Canpac’s output was handled
changes in production of particular products according through the Crawford St store.
to demand, so adjustments at the plant level are not
Map 4 (see page 12) shows the pattern of movement after
appropriate. Applying this factor (0.85) to the 2005 tonne
Crawford St opened. This map is drawn to the same scale as
km data preserves the average pattern at the lower volume
Map 3. Through and minor traffic is excluded from this map too.
level. On this basis the reduction in tonne kilometres is 10%
rather than 24%, but this is still a significant impact. For Note that prior to Crawford St, many containers were
Northland and Bay of Plenty the factor is 0.88. The adjusted packed at the port, with road and some rail transport taking
Northland/Bay of Plenty decrease is 17%, and the overall the product to the port in pallet loads, or “break bulk”. In
decrease 13%. 2010, much of this has moved to Crawford St. As a result
there is now much more movement of containers inland,
After the Crawford St opening, most produce was collected
both as empty supply and as part of the outward load. This
by rail (and road, especially from Te Rapa) and transported
has added extra haulage that was not such a significant part
to the store, and then transported by rail from Crawford
of the 2005 picture. About four times as many containers
St to the port. The proportion of Waikato tonne kilometres
are estimated to have been hauled by rail between ports and
carried by rail increased to 75%. Nearly 90% of this was from
Waikato sites in 2010 than 2005. This has created additional
Crawford St to the ports. There remained some direct flows
fuel use, which is taken into account in the data below. It
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
by rail from plant to port; the largest was from Te Awamutu.
adds 12% to rail fuel consumption in the loaded direction in
As noted above Fonterra did not provide information as to 2005 and 16% in 2010.
the actual port choice (between Auckland and Tauranga)
The container tare adjustment is not made for road. Very
for traffic from Crawford St. The analysis is on the basis of a
few containers were carried by road in either year, except
50:50 split between them. This is not a critical assumption,
for very short distances on or near the ports.
because of the similarity in distance to each port. If the
11Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
Map 4: Road rail and dairy product flows in the Waikato region, 2010
Map 4: road and rail dairy product flows
in the Waikato region, 2010 Coastal
Marine
Area
North
Auckland Port
South Auckland Stores
Inset
Te Rapa
Kerepehi
Crawford St
Waitoa
Tauranga Ports
refer inset
Morrinsville
Te Rapa BoP Stores
Waharoa
Crawford St
incl Canpac
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
Hautapu
Tirau
Te Awamutu
Regional
Lichfield
Boundary
Rail volumes
Road volumes
r
Note; flow routes are indicative only to Rive
and may not follow actual road/rail network Waika
12Methodology
Fonterra has supplied product movement data in fuel efficiency from their new Chinese-built locomotives.
considerable detail. This is given in tonnes for each year On the other hand, trucks have a much shorter life than
for all origins and destinations in tonnes, divided into dry locomotives and the fuel consumption figures are likely to
product and cool, and divided into 20ft and 40ft containers be from modern vehicles.
and break bulk.
Data on truck fuel consumption is very sparse. A TERNZ
The distances by road and rail were calculated for all origin- source indicated 50 litres/100km, as an estimate. The Road
destination pairs, according to the methodology described Transport Forum kindly supplied a consensus figure of 48-52
on page 5. litres/100km loaded, and 20% less empty. Data collected by
the Ministry of Transport for the SAFED project suggested a
The tonnes for each origin-destination pair were multiplied
higher number, based on the rather limited number of 40-
by the distance to give tonne-kilometres. These are
45t trucks in their sample. This averaged at 62 litres/100km
net tonne kilometres and do not include the weight of
before their training, and 58 after.
the vehicle carrying them nor any container. The tonne
kilometres for each year are shown in the following tables. A firm involved in dairy product transport in the North
The 2005 figures are adjusted for the volume differences Island said their average was 53 litres/100km overall. Loaded
discussed on page 11. with an empty container the figure was 40. A dairy trucking
firm in the South Island advised that their typical loaded
Dairy traffic in Northern North Island
figure was 53 litres for an 80km journey, or 66 litres/100km.
(million net tonne kilometres)
All this assumed the current gross load maximum of 44t.
Table 2 2005 2010 The base figure used for road is 53 litres/100km, with
Road Rail Total Road Rail Total sensitivity tests at 60 and 65. This figure is fuel per truck
Waikato 46.9 51.3 98.2 21.8 66.4 88.2
kilometre travelled. The empty or lightened load figures
used is 40 litres/100 km.
Northland/BoP 10.3 41.3 51.5 18.8 23.7 42.5
Total 57.2 92.6 149.8 40.6 90.1 130.7 For container trips, an adjustment for the weight of the
container was needed, as carrying a container adds to
the fuel cost. For this, an estimate of tonnes carried per
container was necessary. Using KiwiRail data for product
A fuel consumption per net tonne kilometre figure was
moving to ports out of Crawford St and other Waikato sites,
then calculated. For rail, that involved using KiwiRail data
this was estimated at 16.5t for a 20ft container, and 23.3t for
to assess which trains typically hauled product, along with
a 40ft. Most containers used are 8ft 6ins high, but it is not
their average gross tonnage, number of wagons and typical
necessary to factor the height in. The KiwiRail data gives
locomotive type and number. This enabled simulations to
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
an average for all containers. It is assumed that containers
be done using KiwiRail’s RailTrain package. This works out
moving by road would be loaded to the same level.
the fuel use for a given route for a given weight and length
of train, and the locomotives hauling it. This is fuel used Road and rail haul different tare weights around, which
for the whole journey and dividing it by the gross tonnes makes comparison between them on a gross tonne
hauled and distance gives a figure for litres per gross tonne kilometre basis misleading. For a meaningful comparison, it
kilometre. Because tonne kilometres are small units, the fuel is necessary to derive net tonne kilometres, which represent
consumption is expressed in litres per 1000 net (or gross) the actual goods hauled.
tonne kilometre.
For rail, the data supplied enabled the actual ratio of
A number of simulations were carried out and the results net to gross tonne kilometres for Fonterra traffic to be
grouped into collection, delivery to Auckland and delivery to calculated. This worked out to be about 0.7 net: gross,
Tauranga. The results varied from 8.71 litres/1000 net tonne that is, equivalent of a 14.3 tonne tare wagon hauling a
kilometres in the loaded direction for the Auckland Port 35t average load, for a gross weight of 48t. This is not a
route, to 12.55 for the local Waikato collection, and 18.24 theoretical figure; KiwiRail has wagons that can carry a 56t
for Northland, a line with very steep grades, particularly load for 16t tare, a net:gross ratio of nearly 0.78. It is also
through Auckland. consistent with two 20ft containers, plus the weight of the
containers, although it is higher than a single 40ft container
All these simulations assumed existing locomotives. These
on the average load above. Note that while the weight of the
locomotives are old and, while their engines and systems
locomotives is not included in this calculation, it is implicit
have been regularly upgraded, their fuel consumption
in the fuel consumption figure.
is likely to be greater than modern locomotives for the
same task. KiwiRail expects a 5 to 10% improvement in
13Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
To convert the fuel per truck kilometre to a net tonne
kilometre figure for road it is necessary to estimate an
Fuel consumption before
average load. For a 44t gross rig, the tare weight is about
17t, so the maximum load is about 27t. Since the products,
Crawford St (loaded)
while dense, are unlikely to be carried in a way that allows Total fuel use in 2005 was calculated at 2.96 million litres,
the maximum (depending on load height, pallet size in including the container adjustment for rail. The Waikato
relation to truck deck, etc), an assessment has to be made. component of this was 1.70 million and the Northland/
Following discussion with an operator, this was assumed to Bay of Plenty portion 1.26. With the adjustment for higher
be 23t, with a sensitivity test at 20t (and for 66 litres/100km, volumes in 2005, the figures fall to 2.56 million total and the
also at 25t load). On the 23t load basis, road consumes 23.04 Waikato figure to 1.44 million.
litres/1000 net tonne kilometres.
Changing the road transport consumption to 60 litres/100km
For a nominal 100km journey, carrying 1000t of product, rail increases the fuel (with the volume adjustment) to 2.73
would consume (based on the Crawford St-Auckland route’s million litres total and 1.59 million for the Waikato. A similar
fuel consumption), 1012 litres, including an adjustment for result is obtained for a consumption of 66 litres/100km and
the weight of a container. Carrying just the empty containers 25t load, as per the South Island source.
on the return leg, it would consume 622 litres. For the
same nominal 100km, 1000t journey, 43.5 trucks would be Adding to the 60 litres case a reduction in average load per
needed. At these rates they would consume 2304 litres. If truck, from 23t to 20t, raises overall consumption to 2.95
they were empty or lightly loaded (e.g. with a container) on million litres, and 1.77 million for Waikato (with the volume
the return leg, using 40 litre/100km, they would consume adjustment).
1739 litres.
Thus the sensitivities add 7.5% for the truck fuel
Thus for the round trip, rail would use 1634 litres, and road consumption (10.9% in the Waikato), and a further 8.2% for
4043, with rail thus using 2.5 times the fuel of road. This is the truck load reduction (11.5% for Waikato).
obviously sensitive to the road and rail consumption figures
Table 3 summarises the sensitivities to the truck parameters.
used and to the load factors assumed. It also is hypothetical
Note that the changes are measuring the sensitivity of total
in that road and rail distances are rarely the same between
fuel use, road and rail, to changes in the truck parameters.
two places.
Rail fuel consumption figures are more accurately calculated
and have not been tested for sensitivity.
Table 3 Sensitivity to truck parameters 2005
Litres/100km Load, tonnes Change against measured Change in fuel use
Total Waikato Northland/BoP
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
% % %
53 (base case) 23(base)
60 23 base +6.8 +9.9 +2.9
66 25 base +7.5 +10.9 +3.2
60 20 base +15.6 +22.6 +6.5
60 20 60 litres, 23 t +8.2 +11.5 +3.4
With volume adjustment. Figures without the adjustment are the same or nearly so.
Table 4 Sensitivity to truck parameters 2010
Litres/100km Load, tonnes Change against measured Change in fuel use
Total Waikato Northland/BoP
% % %
53 (base case) 23(base)
60 23 base +5.9 +5.5 +6.4
66 25 base +6.5 +6.1 +7.1
60 20 base +13.5 +12.6 +14.8
60 20 60 litres, 23 t +7.2 +6.8 +7.9
14Fuel consumption after
Crawford St (loaded)
Metroport reduced. The use of Auckland stores increased.
The same process was used to calculate fuel consumption These latter two impacts are more likely to have been
in 2010. related to the introduction of Crawford St, enabling a
rationalisation of store use.
Total fuel use in 2010 was 2.09 million litres. The Waikato
component of this was 1.20 million, and the Northland/Bay In 2005, some of the Bay of Plenty traffic was shipped
of Plenty portion 0.89. Thus total fuel use fell by nearly half through Auckland, but in 2010 nearly all of it went through
a million litres against the adjusted volume level in 2005. Tauranga. Rail was used in a minor way in 2010, but not in
2005. Edgecumbe no longer has a rail siding and Reporoa is
This is on the basis of 50:50 to Tauranga and Auckland from
many kilometres from a rail line.
Crawford St. If it is 60:40, in either direction, it makes only
2.6% difference to the Waikato rail fuel use (2.6% more if Total tonne kilometres for product from these plants
60% goes to Auckland, 2.6% less if to Tauranga). reduced by 17% with the volume adjustment as a result of
these changes.
Changing the road transport consumption to 60
litres/100km increases the fuel to 2.21 million litres total and Fuel use for plants outside Waikato dropped from 1.11
1.27 million for the Waikato. Using 66 litres/100km and 25t million litres in 2005 (with the volume adjustment) to 0.89
load marginally increases the figures. million litres in 2010, a reduction of 20%. Fuel use per tonne
kilometre actually increased for these regions, reflecting the
Adding to the 60 litres case a reduction in average load per
importance of road transport especially in 2010. Sensitivities
truck, from 23t to 20t, raises overall consumption to 2.37
to changes in road parameters are shown in tables 3 and 4.
million litres, and 1.35 million for Waikato.
Because of the greater use of rail in 2010, the importance of
the truck sensitivities reduces slightly. The truck fuel adds
5.9% overall and 5.5% for the Waikato and with the truck
load 7.2% overall and 6.8% in the Waikato. Note that the Summary of loaded fuel use
sensitivities increase for Northland/Bay of Plenty because of
The loaded fuel use for the two years is summarised in the
road’s increased share there compared with 2005.
following tables. All 2005 figures are after the adjustment
With the adjustment for higher volumes in 2005, the total fuel for lower overall volumes in 2010. Totals may not add up due
use for the Waikato plants was 18% lower in 2010 than 2005. to rounding.
Thus the change to Crawford St not only reduced the overall Table 5 Road loaded fuel use (000 litres)
freight task, but with the increased use of rail the fuel use also
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
decreased. The fuel use reduction is much greater than that 2005 2010 change %
achieved simply by the reduction in the freight task. Waikato 1080 503 -578 -53
Table 4 (on the previous page) summarises the sensitivities Northland/BoP 236 434 +197 +83
to truck parameters in 2010. Total 1317 936 -381 -29
Table 6 Rail loaded fuel use (000 litres)
Northland and Bay of Plenty 2005 2010 change %
Waikato 364 700 +336 +92
Because the transport patterns for Northland and BOP have
changed as a result of Crawford St, they are also worth Northland/BoP 875 451 -424 -48
analysis. Total 1239 1151 -88 -7
In 2005, traffic was hauled by rail from Northland to as far
away as Tauranga, including routing through Metroport
Table 7 Total loaded fuel use (000 litres)
Auckland. In 2010, Maungaturoto had switched to road
direct to Auckland, and more of Kauri’s product went by
2005 2010 change %
road. Note that the Maungaturoto plant is not on rail, and
Waikato 1445 1203 -242 -17
rail use in 2005 involved a road transfer of some 5km. The
change of mode at this plant is unlikely to have been related Northland/BoP 1111 885 -227 -20
to the Crawford St development. The use of Tauranga and Total 2556 2088 -469 -18
15Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
Empty return movements
Given the nature of export flows, the return journey from
Table 9 Rail empty fuel use (000 litres)
the port will often be empty or with just an empty container.
Fuel is consumed by both modes for the return leg, at 2005 2010 change %
reduced levels, but the reduction in fuel use for rail when
Waikato 236 415 +179 +76
empty is more than for road. For that reason, a round trip
calculation is likely to show even greater fuel savings, Northland/BoP 363 189 -174 -48
although it will be sensitive to assumptions. Total 599 604 +5 +1
Empty running is estimated on the basis that each forward
load (truck or rail wagon) has a corresponding empty load.
This is a simplification. Given the information available, Table 10 Total empty fuel use (000 litres)
however, it is a simplification that has to be made.
2005 2010 change %
There may be a container supply at some point other than
Waikato 1052 795 -257 -24
the loaded container’s destination (e.g. in through one
port and out through another, or an empty made available Northland/BoP 541 516 -25 -5
after carrying a load to an inland point). For rail, KiwiRail Total 1593 1310 -282 -18
data shows that outward containers are matched by inward
containers, nearly all empty. A truck carrying a load of dairy
In the Waikato, road empty running was replaced by rail, so
to Auckland for packing may be able to return with packing
that rail empty fuel use grew. Nevertheless, the net result
materials or consumer goods, as an example. But the nature
was a reduction of 24%. In Northland the opposite occurred,
of the dairy commodities and their sheer volume are likely
but the rationalisation still resulted in a small empty fuel
to limit opportunities for backloading.
saving. Over both regions, empty fuel reduced by 18%.
The fuel cost of the empty running assumed does point to
significant savings if return loads could be organised, or
even triangular journeys, to minimise empty running.
The empty calculation for rail is based on the weight of the
containers and the wagons, over all the origin-destination
pairs, multiplied by the average haul calculated from
dividing the net tonne kilometres for a group of origin-
destination pairs by the net tonnes. This was then multiplied
by a litres/1000 gross tonne kilometre rate from the
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
simulations, using typical, often lightly loaded trains in the
return direction. This varied by route, from 8 to 12 litres.
The truck calculation was on the basis of the numbers of
trucks (worked out from the total tonnes divided by the
truck load) and then multiplied by the average haul. Fuel
use for the resultant “truck kilometres” was then calculated
using a rate of 40 litres/100km, being the rate advised by
the Road Transport Forum and others as a typical empty or
lightly loaded rate. .
The results are summarised in the tables following. The 2005
numbers are adjusted for the volume change.
Table 8 Road empty fuel use (000 litres)
2005 2010 change %
Waikato 816 379 -436 -53
Northland/BoP 178 327 +149 +83
Total 994 707 -287 -29
16Overall result
The overall fuel use for both empty and loaded movements
is summarised in Table 11.
Table 11 Total loaded and empty fuel use (000 litres)
2005 2010 change %
Waikato 2497 1998 -499 -20
Northland/BoP 1653 1400 -252 -15
Total 4149 3398 -751 -18
The development of Crawford St has reduced the overall
transport task and increased the use of rail, which is more
fuel efficient than road. These changes in the distribution
patterns have had a marked impact on the fuel used in
the Waikato, reducing by a total of 499,000 litres. Adding
Northland and BoP plants increases the reduction by
252,000 litres (although some of the changes there are
unlikely to be related to Crawford St). Therefore, (between
2005 and 2010) changing the distribution pattern saved
three quarters of a million litres of fuel per year.
The energy equivalent of 751,000 litres of diesel fuel is 28.6
terajoules. Reducing fuel consumption by this much reduces
CO2 emissions by 1988.5 tonnes.7 The reduction of nearly
2000t of carbon dioxide emissions a year is an important Acknowledgements
result of the changes.
At the same time, the number of truck movements has This study has been made possible by Waikato Regional
reduced, with truck-kilometres from the Waikato falling by Council, with funding from EECA. It could equally not have
53%, giving safety, pollution, congestion, road maintenance been done without generous supply of information from
Fuel efficiency impacts of Fonterra’s Crawford St Dairy Freight Hub
and amenity benefits to residents and other road users. Fonterra and KiwiRail. I would particularly like to thank Kevin
Couper, Tom Beguely and Peter Morris from Fonterra, and
Fonterra has achieved efficiency improvements and cost Andrew Fookes, Shelley Pickles, Bruce McKinlay, and David
savings as a result of the establishment of the Crawford Brinsley from KiwiRail. Thanks are also due to Howard Ettema
St stores and the changes in the distribution patterns that of the Waikato Regional Council for his painstaking work on
have resulted. As a business, that is its primary motivation. deriving road distances, and to Leanne Taylor and Philip Jones,
But in doing so it has also improved its and the country’s also of the Waikato Regional Council, for the maps.
sustainability by a substantial fuel and emissions saving.
7
Based on 38.1 MJ/litre and 45.9 MJ/kg; and 69.5t of CO2 per TJ.
See NZ Energy Information Handbook, 3 ed, CAENZ, 2008, pp 28-29
17ISBN 978-0-9864687-6-6
ISBN 978-0-9864687-7-3 (online)
September 201
Waikato Regional council
401 Grey Street, Hamilton East 3247
Waikato Mail Centre, PO Box 4010, Hamilton 3240
Freephone 0800 800 401
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