However, an increased need for container space in five to 10 years could prompt shed relocations to either Sawyers Bay or Dunedin.
Fonterra's North Taieri warehouse, at Fisher and Paykel Appliances' former site, is for dry and cool storage of products from its Edendale and Stirling factories, with a capacity for 45,000 tonnes of dry product and 17,000 tonnes of cool storage.
Port Otago chief executive Geoff Plunket said there would be no immediate changes to Port Otago's warehousing facilities at Port Chalmers and it was "business as usual".
However, in the long term of "at least five to 10 years", greater container volumes could prompt relocation of sheds B and C, which are within the container terminal at present.
He said it was expected Fonterra would run both its Mosgiel and Port Chalmers warehousing operations "in an integrated way to manage the product volume", which included use of three purpose-built sheds at Back Beach totalling 22,000sq m of space, plus the shared sheds within the container terminal.
Port Otago owned sites in Dunedin, including its South Freight premises and its Leith St yard, plus leased space at Strathallan St and a 2ha site in Sawyers Bay, which housed a tannery.
Mr Plunket said the sheds "were not a 24/7 operation" and neighbours to the industrially-zoned land in Sawyers Bay would be consulted.
"We've got to maximise vessel productivity.
Loading and unloading vessels is the priority," Mr Plunket said.
Part of any warehousing relocation could be the extension of the rail service within the container terminal, which could be enlarged to cater for 40 wagons, up from 28 at present, he said.
Despite falling exports, during the six months to December last year, exports crossing Port Chalmers wharves had risen, with a 4% increase in container volumes, to 103,000, for the period.
In September last year, Port Otago forecast an expected downturn in container volumes, by 42,500 to around 175,000, having hit a record 218,000 the previous full year.
"Port Chalmers is the core of operations and we have to maintain use of that land," he said on possibly relocating the two sheds.
The downturn had brought the loss of transhipped (empty) Fonterra containers through Port Chalmers, a reduction in port calls by shipping lines and there was the ending of exports by Fisher and Paykel and Brightwood sawmill's closure.
There had been pressure on space for logs in recent months as China and Korean demand increased and logs had been marshalled in Dunedin and Sawyers Bay as well as Port Chalmers.
The first of several new models of mobile straddle cranes, which stand 14m tall, 3m higher than their predecessors, had been bought.
They can carry laden containers which stacked more than three high, boosting container storage capacity 25% in some areas at Port Chalmers.
Port Otago warehouses: Warehouses at Port Chalmers.
Sheds A-F
A - 1800sq m. Opposite Tunnel Hotel. Timber and cruise-ship access way
B - 6000sq m. Boiler Pt. Mix dairy (Fonterra), timber
C - 4200sq m.Boiler Pt. Mix dairy (Fonterra), timber
D-- 8000sq m. Back Beach. 100% Fonterra E - 6000sq m. Back Beach. 100% Fonterra
F - 8000sq m. Back Beach. 100% Fonterra
