Fire halts traffic

Peak-hour traffic along the waterfront in central Auckland yesterday turned to chaos as emergency services closed Quay St to battle a fire.

As vehicles sat bumper-to-bumper, smoke rose from the 118m-long Golden Trader, a ship moored at the Port of Auckland.

Auckland senior station officer Barry Fox said the fire started in an acetylene cylinder while workers were welding. No one was injured and structural damage was minimal.

Traffic was flowing again by 7pm.