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NZ$3b investment to create NZ’s largest inland port in Otago

2 June 2025

A $3 billion privately funded development in Otago is set to create New Zealand’s largest inland port, in a move expected to future-proof South Island freight logistics and significantly boost export capacity for the region’s primary industries.

The Milburn Quadrant development, located north of Milton, will span more than 200 hectares, including a 55-hectare inland port directly connected to State Highway 1 and the South Island’s main trunk rail line. Already zoned for heavy industrial use, the site will require no public infrastructure investment.

It comes as Dunedin’s Port Otago, currently the country’s sixth-largest seaport by export volumes, is facing capacity constraints.

The new development aims to provide an alternative to ease pressure on the port and support sectors such as forestry, dairy and aquaculture. Mark Johnston, land and delivery manager at Calder Stewart, the developer behind Milburn Quadrant, says the facility would act as a “pressure relief valve” to alleviate storage constraints at Port Chalmers.

Source: Transporttalk

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