Fairfax Media is to upgrade press and mailroom capacity at its Petone, New Zealand, print site using displaced equipment from the soon-to-be-closed Tullamarine (Melbourne) print site.

The plant, to the north-east of Wellington, prints broadsheet dailies Dominion Post and Manawatu Standard, the Sunday Star-Times – all broadsheets in a country where the format is still popular – as well as tabloid stablemate the Sunday News and a number of community newspapers.

Print and distribution chief executive Bob Lockley says a $20 million project approved “just prior to Christmas” will see a four-tower twin-folder manroland Geoman press moved from Tullamarine, along with Ferag mailroom equipment.

It will replace a 30-year-old Goss HT/T70 press to which a shaftless Goss Uniliner 80 tower – similar to the presses at Fairfax’s Christchurch and Ormiston (Brisbane) print sites – was added in 2008 in an $8 million upgrade aimed at achieving 100 per cent full colour.

The latest project – which includes raising some roof heights and other building work on the current site – should be completed by Christmas 2014. A bonus is that the original building houses two press halls, each with rubber ‘base isolation’ foundations which insulate the press from the building and provide some protection in the event of an earthquake. The second hall, with room for six towers and two folders, was never used.

The shaftless 2008 Uniliner tower is compatible with those in Christchurch and Ormiston, but a decision has not been taken about where it will go.

Plant manager Ricky Baker says the upgrade will bring improvements at a number of levels, not least by simplifying the task of maintaining a press made up of three generations of satellites and mono units including hydraulic as well as pneumatic systems. “It was installed in the 1980s, added to in the 1990s, converted to print back-to-back colour, and then had the 2008 tower added,” says Baker, who joined the newspaper 14 years ago.

In the mailroom, Ferag equipment from Tullamarine will update that already in Petone – including buffered inserting, six stackers and three lines – some of which is 30 years old. The site already has Krause CTP with Nela benders.

• In Australia, Lockley says Saturday editions of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald will continue to be printed at Tullamarine and Chullora when these go ‘compact’ on March 1, but the company is “on target” with its commitment to fully transfer production to regional sites by June 30 “at the latest”.

The switch to tabloid of Fairfax’s biggest metropolitan editions brings them into line with weekday editions, which moved to the format last March. The changes are part of a Fairfax of the Future blueprint under which the company will make major savings on production costs from printing the metro flagships at its regional print centres. The changes also address continuing reductions in demand for the print editions; sales of The Age were down 14-17 per cent in the latest ABC figures, while those for the Sydney Morning Herald fell 16.3-16.6 per cent. News Corp Australia titles also reported circulation declines.

New and existing press and mailroom equipment is being installed at the Ballarat (Victoria) and North Richmond (NSW) sites, along with new platesetters under a plate supply contract with Fujifilm.

Remaining work from the two metropolitan print sites is being transferred during April, May and June.

Meanwhile, contract printing of the new independently-owned The Saturday Paper – which launches on March 1 – will be at Ballarat and North Richmond from the start.

• Fairfax is looking at ways in which digital printing technology might be used in remote sites: “We’re looking at options and possible cost justification for these,” Lockley says. There is the “possibility” of working with News Corp Australia on projects.

He confirmed that the company was also looking at Goss International’s new automated Magnum Compact press as an alternative in some applications.

Announced last year, the new single-width press – which can be added to existing Community lines, of which Fairfax has a number – was being shown in production next month (March).

Pictured: The Petone press following the 2008 addition