But Christmas really did come early when, in December, shipping giant Maersk shifted its Southern Star container service from Auckland to Tauranga.
It was the sixth new shipping service for Tauranga last year and is expected to bring in nearly $20million a year for the port company.
Two weeks later and only days before Christmas, the Port got the green light for dredging, and finalised the contract to lengthen the Sulphur Point wharf.
And the good news keeps on coming. Just days into the new year, dairy giant Fonterra announced it would be re-routing its shipping line through the Tauranga and Napier ports because of ongoing industrial action at Port of Auckland.
Auckland's loss is very much Tauranga's gain with one employment expert predicting that the increased work at the port will have massive ripple effect on the Bay's economy.
Not only will the port employ more staff and contractors, 1st Call recruitment managing director Phill van Syp tells us that logistics, distribution and storage also look set to benefit.
Long term he says areas such as administration will also benefit as large companies look to set up warehouses here.
It makes perfect sense that if companies are re-directing their shipping to our port, why not make Tauranga their distribution hub as well?
The central location and access to rail makes the city an ideal place to set up business. As a city, we should be promoting it as such.
With Ports of Auckland staff looking likely to strike again next week, who knows when the employment dispute will end.
But here in Tauranga, the future certainly looks bright.
