March 6, 2025

The end of February saw the opening of the Marlborough Inland Port (MIP) in Blenheim’s Riverlands.

Situated right next door to WineWorks Marlborough, this new Inland Port will increase the connectivity and resilience for the top of the south.

In a blessing ceremony, held last December with representatives from Rangitāne, the local iwi gifted the building the name Honomai. The name speaks to connection and coming together, which reflects the role of the Inland Port in linking people, trade and industry. MIP Honomai will be occupied by our business partner QuayConnect and have direct connection with Port Nelson and Central Express.

We are excited to continue our collaboration with our partners now that MIP Honomai is open, and we will be utilizing the efficiencies it offers on our own operations.

Being right next door to WineWorks Marlborough, goods can move to and from facilities faster. Typically, glass bottles come to us straight from Nelson, but if there is the need for glass, we can use our electric tug and trailer to transport it directly to WineWorks, aligning with our sustainability commitments and reducing both our, and our client’s Scope 3 emissions.

Leading with the accessibility and convenience of proximity, if the connection between WineWorks and Port Nelson is compromised, MIP Honomai offers us a contingency plan. We have experienced when the chain breaks and disrupts the movement of stock when State Highway 6 was in repair after a large weather event in 2022. MIP Honomai will hold a reserve of glass that can feed WineWorks for about two weeks, giving us enough time to prevent production halting or slowing down while finding alternatives.

There are more options for packing our client’s wine into containers now. Finished goods for export can be directly transported over to MIP to be packed and gated into a container; also streamlining journeys to other ports such as CentrePort (Wellington) and Lyttleton Port (Christchurch).

To have this infrastructure in place means that we are able to increase the resilience of the wine producers in the region and enables us and our partners to get their products to market. The new Inland Port is an addition to our commitment of adding value to wine manufacturing here in New Zealand rather than seeing it going offshore.

Our ongoing partnership with businesses like QuayConnect, Port Nelson and Central Express has been strengthened with this new infrastructure, and we are happily welcoming our new neighbors in Riverlands.