At 11.10am today a fire broke out in the vicinity of the port conveyor system and some adjacent packets of LVL timber.

The Ruakaka Volunteer Fire Brigade and the Refining NZ Emergency Services team were called and responded immediately. Our sincere thanks go out to these teams for their professional and effective response.

There were no injuries as a result of this incident and the port’s emergency response procedures worked as designed.

The fire was extinguished quickly. It was situated some distance from normal operations, which were able to continue uninterrupted.

The cause is not yet known and damage to our equipment is still being assessed.

This incident in no way affects the scheduled arrival tomorrow of the large container ship Constantinos P.

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About Northport

Northport, situated at Marsden Point at the mouth of Whangarei Harbour, is New Zealand’s northernmost deep-water port. It is a flexible facility catering for large, multi-purpose vessels and full cargo handling facilities are available from its 570 metre linear berth.

Logs, woodchip and processed timber for export comprise the bulk of cargo handled by the port. Recent investment in container handling equipment has seen an uptake in coastal and international container trade. Other export items include kiwifruit, dairy products and manufactured goods. Imports are an important part of Northport’s business and include fertiliser, gypsum, coal and palm kernel.

The port is owned and operated by Northport Ltd, itself owned jointly and equally by Marsden Maritime Holdings Ltd and the Port of Tauranga Ltd.