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Disagreement continues to rumble between Port of Tauranga and NZL Group as the logistics company accelerates plans to establish a terminal on the port's land.
NZL yesterday said it had been advised by Port of Tauranga that services it provided to ships docked at the Sulphur Pt Container Terminal were no longer required. NZL director Ken Harris said a notice had been received stating that the cessation of NZL labour was immediate.
The company had previously been nominated by shipping companies to supply more than half the stevedoring labour used on container ships at the facility, Harris said.
"This was not unexpected given the expiry of the contract between us and our intention to re-establish the NZL terminal," he said.
NZL on Christmas Eve said it would exercise a right - dating back to a contract when P&O Ports operated at Tauranga - to operate a terminal at the Sulphur Pt site.
NZL bought P&O's Tauranga business two years ago and an agreement by P&O not to resume the business for five years after operations were merged with those of the port in 2003 had expired.
Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns said NZL gave notice on Christmas Eve they were terminating their contract.
"We met with them on January 15. At that meeting they confirmed they were wanting to terminate the contract, we got a letter from their lawyers that they were wanting to terminate, so it's hardly Port of Tauranga kicking them off the site," Cairns said.
"We're happy to meet with NZL and work through the terms of a site to operate but it will never be a terminal.
" It will be to set up as a marshalling contractor ... and possibly to provide onboard labour."
Marshalling is the receiving into port, storage and movement of containers to the side ships.
