| 29 Hume Pack-N-Cool: Tuatara Structures REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Going big to future-proof the business Richard Loader The new building is comprised of three separate coolstores and in total holds 3000 pallets, which is about 750,000 trays of kiwifruit. Katikati kiwifruit company Hume PackN-Cool has bolstered its operational capacity with an additional 2700 square metres of coolstorage, following the construction of a new building constructed by Christchurch steel building specialist, Tuatara Structures. The extra capacity is the result of continued increase in kiwifruit volumes and the need to hold larger volumes of fruit for longer periods of time. Last year the company saw a 50% increase in volume handled from the previous year resulting from better yields from existing orchards and increased supply from new growers, General Manager Simon Bowker says. “The new building is comprised of three separate coolstores and in total holds 3000 pallets, which is about 750,000 trays of kiwifruit. In context we have a total of twenty-four coolstores on site, including the three new ones and have a total static capacity for 15,000 pallets, or 3.8 million trays.” The new coolstores utilise a state-of-the art racking system with automated shuttles that deploy and retrieve pallets from the racks as required. The carboard boxes holding the fruit are stacked on pallets that are put into racks. While the racks are three high, each rack holds a single pallet and not stacked on top of each other as they would in a traditional coolstore system. to page 30
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