Steel mill
A number of services use the branch daily. Its primary traffic is bulk products - export timber and some timber products from local forests and the Kinlieth and Tasman mills; and coal destined for the Huntly power station and the New Zealand Steel mill at Glenbrook. It is also used for shunts to and from the container handling facilities of the Port of Tauranga, which are located at Sulphur Point on the other side of Tauranga Harbour. With 21 freight trains per day the line was estimated (1990) as the fifth busiest line in New Zealand.