The second 18-year-old male, from Te Puna, was kept in for observation.
The driver of the truck appeared to be uninjured at the scene of the accident.
Tauranga police Sergeant Nigel Ramsden said the cause of the accident was not yet known but he did not rule out speed, alcohol or drugs last night at the crash scene.
Sergeant Scott Merritt from Tauranga police said the truck was carrying flowers.
Police diverted traffic through a neighbouring kiwifruit orchard during the two hours the road was closed.
A Whakamarama man, who did not want to be identified and who had lived on his property for 43 years, said he had not seen seen a fatality on the road before but had seen a number of serious crashes.
"It's the first death we have ever had but the road is 80km/h. You can get around the corner quite easily at 80km/h ... it's when you try and do it [faster]."
The crash last night was the third in a spate of serious crashes in recent weeks.
Nathan Luc Alain Boucher, 23, who moved to New Zealand to "make his dream come true" died on SH2 when he swerved to avoid hitting a portable toilet that had fallen from a truck, before colliding head-on with another truck last Thursday.
Then on Sunday, a 29-year-old woman suffered serious head injuries after a two-vehicle crash in the Kaimai Range.
