Ingrid Jellick
The MV Aotea Maersk arrived into Tauranga port on Tuesday morning.
At 347 metres long it is the largest container ship to visit New Zealand, and Tauranga is her only port of call.
The event, made possible through extensive collaboration between the Port of Tauranga, Maersk and Kotahi Logistics, provides a significant boost to New Zealand's trade capability.
"These bigger ships, given how far New Zealand is from our markets, we have to have the lowest cost and most efficient supply chain. These are the largest ships calling New Zealand. They don't call Australia. I think they really do give our exporters an advantage in terms of transit times to market," said Port of Tauranga CEO Mark Cairns.