A fire which was burning in the hold of a ship at the Port of Tauranga this morning has been put out.
Eighteen fire engines were earlier at the Port of Tauranga in Mount Maunganui, after the alarm was raised from the Kokopo Chief just before 1am.
The fire broke out in the hold of the ship and containers were removed from the ship to help get access to the fire.
About 10am this morning, firefighters lifted the hatch to expose the fire which was burning in 650 tonnes of timber.
The Fire Area Commander, Murray Binning, said the fire was now out and the investigation into what caused it had begun.
He said they were lucky the fire did not ignite when the hatch was lifted, as it was a significant blaze.
Operations at the Port of Tauranga were unaffected by the fire.
