Business Central February 2021

30 | REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Sequal Plenty to gain from roading investment Richard Loader Sequal is committed to adding value to New Zealand’s timber exports. Its about partnership... Lonza are proud to be associated with Sequal Lumber, partnering in producing and providing mould and stain free lumber to Sequal’s customers around the globe. Lonza wishes Sequal all the best for the future. Lonza Wood Protection Australia: +61 (0411) 489 651 New Zealand: +64 (27) 432 2080 www.lonzawoodprotection.com/apac WOOD PRESERVATIVE TRUST PROVEN WOOD PROT E C T I ON Antiblu andTanalised are registered trademarks of Lonza or its subsidiaries. © Lonza 2020 K awerau sawmiller Sequal has been awarded a $1.1 million loan from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) for the de- velopment of a new 1.6 kilometre Off-Highway road linking the Manukorihi Industrial Devel- opment to the Kawerau Container Terminal. The loan is part of a wider $19.9 million investment package from the PGF to Putauaki Trust to develop essential infrastructure for the Kawerau-Putauaki Industrial Develop- ment. Driven by Industrial Symbiosis Kawerau (ISK), a regional partnership between the Kaw- erau District Council, local industry and central government agencies the initiative is com- prised of three key projects that will deliver a broad spectrum of social, environmental and economic benefits. The first and second projects will develop roading infrastructure including a turning bay and roundabout on SH34 along with construc- tion of rail sidings at the Kawerau Container Terminal, enabling containers to be loaded and unloaded on site. The container terminal is an inter-modal hub linking roading with Kiwi Rail and the Port of Tauranga. “Sequal’s role is developing the off-highway road that will meet up at Kawerau Container terminal,” explains David Turner, Executive Director of Sequal Lumber. “That will substantially reduce the cost of the inter-modal transport and enable us to access the container terminal at minimal cost.” The direct benefit of the initiatives will be a reduction in supply chain costs for the industry with immediate climate benefits from decarbonising the supply chain and utilising rail. “Those benefits flow all the way through to Tauranga where you have massive congestion issues caused by trucking getting into the Port of Tauranga,” explains David. “For Sequal alone it will mean 5000 less truck movements a year across the Tauranga Harbour Bridge.” In the longer term, David says the develop- ment will support New Zealand’s transition to the circular economy in a way that optimises the ability for businesses to succeed within a framework of a carbon free economic expec- tation. “Over time, that will attract industry into the region and that industry will employ people in our community.” Working closely with five Māori landowners whose land the roading development crosses, Sequal negotiated a range of easement ar- rangements to make the $2.8 million develop- ment possible. “It has been a real community initiative to make it all come to fruition. The land that the road and terminal runs across is currently underutilised so the landowners will be able to turn that into income.” While Sequal will manage and maintain the road, ownership of the road will pass through to the landowners after 30 years. “It has been a real community initiative to make it all come to fruition. The land that the road and terminal runs across is currently underutilised so the landowners will be able to turn that into income.” David expects the infrastructure projects will be completed towards the end of 2021. Sequal was founded in 2006 by four Bay of Plenty families who saw the large volume of logs coming into market and felt it was important for New Zealand that logs were processed domestically, rather than exported for processing. “We finished building our site in Kawerau in 2008, just in time for the Global Financial Crisis. “While the first five years were difficult, multiple stages of growth have now put us in a position where we’re exporting rough-sawn lumber to about 20 different markets around the world. About 70% of our product is exported, all from the Port of Tauranga. Our goal is to be a 250,000-cube/pa mill and we will achieve that next year.” A passionate advocate for the domestic processing of logs, David believes Sequal is prototyping what can be achieved in New Zealand, transforming raw materials into val- ue-add products and the effect that can have on the community. “To me, for people to be valuable they have to be given the opportunity to add value to something. It’s not just the wage—though we are a living wage employer—it’s giving people the opportunity to create a product. “That’s a really important part of building a community and we’re really passionate about that.”