The man had sustained a back injury and a minor dislocation in a fall early yesterday in the Panama flagged Victoire.
"The crewman fell down some stairs in the engine room," Liquigas manager Gary Heaven said.
The incident was heightened because mobile phones are not allowed to be used near the lpg terminal.
"You can't have anything that can cause a spark around here. We have to use special radios which are intrinsically safe gear," Mr Heaven said.
"They [ambulance officers] could go in to save one guy and end up having to save a lot more."
The ship was scheduled to arrive at the Fryatt St lpg terminal at 9.30am yesterday, but did not berth with the injured crew member until nearly midday.
"It's a regular visitor here. But, because it's a dangerous goods vessel, it can only be sailed in daylight hours, because it can't navigate all the islands in the harbour at night," Mr Heaven said.
"We got hold of the ship's agent and he organised the ambulance. It's been a good test for St John and for all of us. It's good to see everyone's procedures worked well."
The 86m-long, 2400-tonne capacity Victoire is due to leave Dunedin at 4pm today.
"We don't know at this stage if the crew member will be on board," Mr Heaven said.
