An electrical fire in the machinery house of one of the Port of Tauranga's container cranes presented a bit of a climb for Tauranga fire fighters today, as the machinery houses are about 48m off the ground at the top of the crane's rear legs.

Access is by steps attached to the crane leg.

'We had a call stating that one of the cranes at the port seemed to be on fire in the electrical house of the crane,” says Fire and Emergency NZ northern communications centre shift manger Megan Ruru.

'When Tauranga got there they liaised with the staff there trying to get the power isolated at the crane. It looks as though the fire was confirmed out and it was left in the hands of the port electricians.”

Port of Tauranga commercial manager Leonard Sampson says the fire fighters climbed 48 metres and extinguished a small electrical fire in the crane's circuit housing with a fire extinguisher.

The port shut all the cranes down for about an hour, when they first became aware there was an incident.

'It has very little impact on port operations,” says Leonard. 'Fortunately we have eight cranes - the other seven are able to still work vessels.”

The impact of the electrical fault on the crane is being assessed