Six years after it first established the inland port at Wiri in Manukau, Ports of Auckland will ships goods to the site by train with the first journey on the newly opened railway link due to take place overnight.

The first train from the port is due to arrive at Wiri at 1am this morning, after the completion of the rail exchange to the site.

The rail link will reduce the number of trucks on Auckland’s busy roads, with forecasts that it will save up to 2.5 million truck kilometres per year – equal to 100,000 central city truck trips.

Ports of Auckland and Port of Tauranga’s CEOs certainly have no love lost between them.

Last week’s Waikato Tranport Forum featured the rare sight of the two CEOs, Jens Madsen of Auckland, and Mark Cairns of Tauranga,  speaking sequentially about their respective outlooks for the industry.