Shipping giant chooses Tauranga stop off

Tauranga's port has been chosen by the world's second-largest container shipping line as the only New Zealand stop-off for its new Oceania Express service.

The vessels will initially call every fortnight but once business grows it will revert to weekly, and all the east coast ports will send cargo to Tauranga.

The service was announced by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) yesterday and will see Tauranga become part of a rotation that includes Australian cities Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, Balboa at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal, and Californian city Long Beach.

Port of Tauranga has recently announced five other new services, and the company expects container volumes will increase by 20 to 25 per cent in the next year, reaching 750,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalents).

Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns said the latest shipping service would mean more jobs would soon be available at the port. However he could not yet say how many.

"We are delighted that MSC have chosen Tauranga as their New Zealand hub port and this announcement provides another tangible example of the structural change that is occurring in the New Zealand Port sector," Mr Cairns said.

"We are undertaking significant capital expenditure at the container terminal over the next few years to ensure that we continue to provide our customers with world-class levels of productivity."

MSC's Oceania Express service would start in October.