The size of the ship and the cargo it was loading forced the ship to run a second and unsilenced generator.
Port Otago chief executive Kevin Winders said as soon as the second generator started it made a noise.
‘‘Most of the year, it's actually just running one and it's nice and quiet.
‘‘We actually let the community know it's going to be, depending on the weather conditions, it might be a bit noisy, but it's going tomorrow,’’ he said.
With meat products, a second generator was needed to keep the cargo at a specific temperature.
High winds yesterday meant the ship’s thrusters and engines had to be on standby should the ship move off the wharf.
He said the need for the second generator happened occasionally in peak season.
Yesterday the wind was blowing from the north, directing the noise straight at the Port Otago office and down the harbour towards Dunedin.
He said there was no technical solution to it.
In Napier it had loaded up apples and then picked up meat and dairy products from Lyttelton.
At Port Chalmers it would pick up meat,cheese, dairy products and processed timber.
The ship was set to sail today at 6pm for Tanjung Pelepas, a busy port in Malaysia.
