Port Nelson in New Zealand has deployed a private 5G network in partnership with Spark New Zealand and Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions, marking a major step forward in connectivity, safety, and productivity across its warehousing operations.
A key gateway to the South Island, Port Nelson underpins New Zealand’s economy, handling a diverse range of exports and imports, including forestry products, pipfruit, wine, and seafood. Within its warehouses, where palletized bottled wine and empty wine bottles move in and out of the port, forklift operators are required to scan every pallet moved as part of critical inventory and logistics processes.
However, the high‑density block‑stacking storage used in these warehouses, and the complex design of the broader Port site, had created persistent Wi‑Fi dead spots and forced staff to change operating processes simply to maintain connectivity.
“Connectivity was becoming a real operational constraint for us,” said Reagan Pattison, General Manager Business Transformation at Port Nelson.
“No matter how much we tried to saturate our warehouses with Wi‑Fi, we couldn’t get consistent performance. That impacted productivity, created frustration for our operators, and limited our ability to modernize how we work.”
Covering around 30,000 square meters across three warehouses in Nelson and Blenheim, Spark’s 5G+ Private Network solution uses Ericsson Private 5G to provide a high-availability core at Port Nelson that connects to small cell radios to provide reliable coverage inside the warehouses and across outdoor yard areas. The Port has also deployed Ericsson Cradlepoint ruggedized R1900 routers for forklift connectivity and tracking.
The dual-SIM capability of the routers enables switching between Spark’s public and private 5G networks for when forklifts move outside the initial private 5G coverage areas.
Unlike traditional Wi‑Fi, private 5G delivers dedicated, secure, enterprise‑grade connectivity with predictable performance and pervasive coverage across complex sites like the Port, enabling staff to scan pallets in real time without interruption as they move throughout the sites.
In addition to immediate productivity and staff satisfaction gains, Ericsson’s NetCloud platform gives Port Nelson improved visibility into connectivity performance, helping teams proactively identify and resolve issues.
A digital push‑to‑talk communications platform, enabled by Ericsson Private 5G, will play a key role in strengthening health and safety outcomes by improving real‑time communications and enabling location‑based alerts to help physically separate people from heavy mobile plant. Future applications include geofence intelligence and broadcast messaging.
Looking ahead, the Port’s warehouse private 5G network has the potential to further transform its operations by enabling advanced applications such as real‑time asset tracking, predictive maintenance, enhanced CCTV cameras, AI‑enabled vision, and automation — delivering ongoing improvements in both productivity, and health and safety outcomes.
