Tauranga on new Pacific shipping service route

Port of Tauranga is hailing a move by Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) to include Tauranga as the only New Zealand stop in a new Pacific service, as an example of structural change in this country's port sector.

The port company today said MSC, the world's second largest container shipping line, was planning to start the new Oceania express service in October.

The service's port rotation would be Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Tauranga, Balboa on the Panama Canal, Long Beach in Los Angeles, then back to Melbourne.

MSC national operations director Mark Godfrey said his company recognised the Port of Tauranga as a major New Zealand hub.

MSC planned to trans-ship cargo from six other New Zealand ports using its three other services operating in this country -- Capricorn, Kiwi and Pacific Island services.

Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns said the port was now forecasting container volumes to rise by about 20-25 percent, in light of the new MSC service and five other new services recently announced.

About 40 percent of the increase would be due to trans-shipped cargo.

MSC's announcement provided another tangible example of the structural change under way in the New Zealand port sector, Cairns said.

Significant capital was being spent at the port's container terminal in the next few years to ensure Tauranga continued to provide world class levels of productivity.

Shares in Port of Tauranga surged in early trading on the sharemarket, rising 18c or 1.9 percent to $9.48.

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