Shipping company Fesco New Zealand has switched its Far East service from Ports of Auckland to the Port of Tauranga.
The service will also use Tauranga's inland Metroport at Onehunga.
Tauranga chief executive Jon Mayson said the move should boost container movements at the Port of Tauranga by more than 20,000 twenty-foot-equivalent
units (TEUs), an increase of at least 8 per cent on current volumes, and could send the TEU figure as high as 24,000.
But Ports of Auckland chief executive Geoff Vazey disputed the figures. He said the Fesco NZ Express Line service was worth only 15,000 TEUs last year, and had been falling in recent years.
The business had a value of $3 million a year, compared with Auckland's total turnover of $150 million, said Mr Vazey.
Auckland had increased its container volumes by 50,000 TEUs over the past year, and losing 15,000 was not a major blow, said Mr Vazey.
He said Fesco would continue to run its Australian and US service through Auckland.
The latest deal means an extra 5000 to 10,000 containers being railed between Tauranga and Auckland in a year, Mr Mayson said. Tauranga expects to handle 280,000 TEUs in the June financial year.
Fesco New Zealand manager Michael Bailey said the move was necessary in the increasingly competitive trading environment.
Fesco did not make the switch lightly, but felt it would give better coverage for clients, he said.
The change will give the shipping service equal access to both the Auckland market and Bay of Plenty region through the one port call.
One Fesco ship will call at Tauranga each Thursday.
Port of Tauranga's share price fell 10c yesterday to $5.60. Ports of Auckland fell 20c to $5.15.
