The Lyttelton Port Company says the lifting of a strike notice for six days will allow some return of shipping to the port.
Rail and Maritime Transport Union organiser John Kerr Photo: RNZ / Alex Harmer
The Rail and Maritime Transport Union had issued a strike notice for 13 days from Monday, but that has now been lifted from today through to Tuesday 20 March, and the two parties are going back into negotiations.
The union had offered to return to work for just Thursday and Friday, but the port company said that was too short notice to allow any of the ships to be diverted back to Lyttelton.
The union voted to accept the port's request that the lifting of the strike notice be extended to six days.
The port's operations manager, Paul Monk, said that will allow for meaningful trade to begin to return.
He said while uncertainty remains beyond Tuesday, it's a positive development.
However, the chief executive of the Manufacturers Network, Dieter Adam, said the strike action has already had a major impact on his members, and South Island freight services are being held to ransom over a relatively small amount of money.