Timaru fishing ship fire contained

Smoke coming from a fishing ship fire at Timaru Port last night. Photo / Timaru District Council

A fishing ship fire in Timaru Port has been contained but fire crews will stay on board through the day.

The fire broke out about 9pm last night and ten crews have been working through the night to contain the fire on the 80m Dong Won 701 fishing vessel docked at the South Canterbury port.

Four crews remain at the scene this morning and two tug boats with firefighters on board have been rotating to cool the sides of the ship.

Three crew members have been treated for smoke inhalation.

A Timaru District Council webcam showed a large amount of smoke coming from the port last night after the fire broke out.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand's area manager for South Canterbury, Steven Greenyer, says the fire has been contained but there is still some steam and smoke coming from the ship.

"It's still not fully extinguished, but it's looking a lot better than it was about four to five hours ago. We're reasonably confident it's not going to escalate," he said.

Greenyer said two more crews are on their way from Christchurch and a further two will come from Dunedin to help relieve those who have been working overnight.

"Both paid and volunteer firefighters have been working incredibly hard to get this fire under control, in some pretty trying conditions. The weather overnight has been appalling, it's been very wet and cold."

He said firefighters have had to be careful with the amount of water they use on the blaze to avoid the boat sinking.

The police have cordoned off part of the Port area as a precaution.