The Alliance meat company says the loss of container shipping at Port Timaru will have a minimal impact on its operations.
Alliance has two processing plants in South Canterbury.
Marketing general manager Murray Brown says Alliance uses Port Timaru to ship beef and lamb, mainly to the United States.
However, he says the impact to the company will be minimal because it uses a range of ports and can transfer Timaru product to one nearby.
Maersk Shipping and Hamburg Sud will stop calling at the port from mid-September. Their ships will instead travel directly between Dunedin or Lyttelton and Napier.
Federated Farmers says farmers and growers will be hurt.
Vice President William Rolleston, who farms just south of Timaru at Bluecliff Station, says farmers will be hit by the changes.
