Fire fighting crews are called back to the bulk carrier Lucy Oldendorff docked at the Port of Tauranga today after a fire in the number one hold flared up.

Firefighters attend to the palm kernel fire in the ship's No. 1 hold.

The fire service says two crews are on board the ship dealing with a fire involving about four tonnes of the palm kernel cargo.

'The hatches of the ship are open there is a fire in the number one hold so they are just working at removing the product at the moment,” says Northern Fire Communications shift manager Jaron Phillips.

'It's smouldering at the moment so we have prepared entry. Firefighters donned breathing apparatus, and they are just preparing for the product removal.

'It's been smouldering overnight, so they are still down there. There are a couple of crews down there at the moment.”

Fire crews were first called to the bulk carrier when the 32,491 tonne deadweight ship arrived at the Port of Tauranga roadstead on Monday morning.

Fire crews used an infra red camera and gas detector to determine if there was any fire after the crew reported smoke.

No signs of fire were found yesterday and the ship was permitted to berth.

The Greerton crew was called to the ship at 10.40am.

The Lucy Oldendorff docked at berth 10 at the Port of Tauranga.