The Port of Tauranga is situated in Tauranga, New Zealand. It is the largest port in the country both in terms of total cargo volume, and in terms of container throughput with container volumes exceeding 1.2 million TEUs (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units). The port is operated by Port of Tauranga Ltd (). This article is about both the company and the port itself. The port is located in a natural harbour protected by Mount Maunganui and Matakana Island, and is the only natural harbour between Auckland and Wellington offering good shelter in all weather. , Port of Tauranga Ltd employs approximately 270 people. History The Maori waka Takitimu, one of the great Maori migration canoes, is said to have entered the harbour ca. 1290 in its voyage from the Maori traditional homeland of Hawaiki. Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook in the vessel HMS Endeavour passed close to the harbour in November 1769 on his voyage of exploration of New Zealand, but did not enter it. The missionary schooner Herald was probably the first European vessel to enter the harbour, in 1828. Subsequently, in 1853 Captain Drury in HMS Pandora surveyed and charted the coast and harbour as part of a broader maritime survey of New Zealand. The first wharf was constructed in the 1860s, before which shipping operations took place from the beach. Passenger steamer services were operated from the 1870s, being discontinued in 1929 following the construction of a rail link to Hamilton in 1928. In September 1873, the Port of Tauranga was officially established by order of the Governor-General of New Zealand, Sir James Fergusson. The Lady Jocelyn of 2,138 tonnes was the first large sailing vessel recorded as entering the harbour, in 1882. Various schemes were proposed for dredging and other improvements to navigation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but little was done. A Tauranga Harbour Board (later the Bay of Plenty Harbour Board) was constituted to administer the affairs of the harbour in 1912, first meeting in 1913. In 1927 the Railway Wharf was completed and used almost exclusively for coastal shipping until the visit of the James Cook in 1948 to load timber for Australia. Timber subsequently became and remains a mainstay of cargoes out of the port. Construction of the Mount Maunganui wharf started in 1953 and the first ship, the MV Korowai berthed at the new wharf on 5 December