A machinery operator has been taken to hospital with burn injuries after a large fire broke out at the Ports of Auckland.
Plumes of black smoke could be seen billowing across the city, including the North Shore, from the blaze this morning.
The blaze had broken out at Jellicoe Wharf in a reach stacker, a type of equipment used to lift and move cargo containers, A Fire Emergency New Zealand spokesman said.
The operator suffered burns and had been taken to hospital.
Four fire trucks attended the fire and remain onsite.
The blaze was contained to the one piece of machinery, the spokesman said.
The reach stacker is still holding on to one of the nearby containers. At least a dozen firefighters are still at the scene on the rail grid alongside Quay St.
Firefighters were hosing down the inside of the container still attached to the charred reach stacker at 11am.
The cab of the loader usually has glass protecting the driver but it appears to have been blown out in the blaze, nearby workers said.
Some reported hearing a "loud bang" as the fire broke out.
Because there was diesel involved the fire created large clouds of black smoke, the spokesman said. The fire has now been brought under control.
Witness Sarah Bowman said she saw a thick plume of smoke rising from the Ports of Auckland about 20 minutes ago from her third-floor office on St George's Bay Road.
A video sent to the Herald shows a vehicle fully ablaze near several containers at the port as firefighters work to bring the fire under control.
