AUCKLAND Transport late last week took delivery of the 23rd and final three-carriage unit in its City Rail expansion, delivered by the Höegh Autoliners PCTC Höegh Osaka.
Built by Spanish train builder CAF at its manufacturing facility in Mexico, the new trains comprising 69 individual units, have each travelled by ship to Auckland before being transported by road to the Wiri Train Depot for inspection, coupling, testing, and commissioning ahead of entering service.
The first shipment carried by Höegh arrived in Auckland in April 2025, loaded on the company’s 80-foot Mafis which are fitted with rail tracks, meaning the trains can be rolled on or off without requiring cranes. In Auckland local heavy-haulage outfit PTS temporarily fitted rail tracks to their low-loaders and winched the carriages from the Mafis to their trailers.
The carriages vary slightly depending on whether they are the end or the middle units but approximate dimensions are 24m x 2.8m x 4.0m and weights 43-45 tonnes.
Höegh doesn’t currently call direct into Mexico on its Oceania service so the trains were feedered to Jacksonville and occasionally Baltimore, said James Dawson, national manager shipping agencies of Höegh’s NZ agents Seaway.
The trains are owned by Auckland Transport and will be operated on the Auckland Metro rail service, which was previously a hub & spoke type operation where the central Auckland station (previously Britomart station but now renamed Waitemata station) was a dead-end, Mr Dawson told DCN.
Due to the City Rail Link project which will be going live later this year, a tunnel has been dug under the central city and Waitemata station is now a flow-through station that connects with the rest of the network enabling much greater connectivity between the various lines.
Image: Höegh Autoliners
The Auckland Transport is expecting a major increase in train patronage due to the CRL, hence the need for the expansion of the train fleet, which will now comprise 95 units.
Also late last week Höegh Autoliners reported it transported 1.3 million cbm of cargo on a pro-rated basis, while the three-month November-January total was 4.0 million cbm.
The prorated gross freight rate in January 2026 was USD 92.2 per cbm (+0.5% versus the average prorated gross freight rate last three months at USD 91.7 per cbm).
The prorated net freight rate in January 2026 was USD 77.7 per cbm (-1.3% versus the average prorated net freight rate last three months at USD 78.8 per cbm).
High & heavy/breakbulk share of prorated volumes carried in January was 22%. Last three months the prorated HH/BB share was 22%.
Andreas Enger, CEO Höegh Autoliners, said January delivered stable results in line with seasonal patterns, with weather related delays persisting through the month.