Lyttelton Port of Christchurch (LPC) is fully operational following an extensive assessment by structural engineers.

LPC has however sustained significant damage from Saturday morning's 7.1 magnitude earthquake, centered approximately 40 kilometres from the port. The cost to repair the damage to the port is likely to be tens of millions of dollars.

Following the earthquake LPC was able to resume operation of core services on Saturday. This required a significant amount of hard work from the entire LPC staff.

The container terminal was able to resume full cargo operation at 1500 Sunday and there have been limited effects on forecasted shipping movements.

LPC is working with all parties to ensure the effects on shipping and cargo transfer through the port are as minimal as possible.

LPC's engineering and maintenance staff will continue to access the damage to infrastructure, power supply and other services.

Our thoughts are with the families of Lyttelton and all of Canterbury during this difficult time.

We will continue to advise as more information becomes available.