The Port of Tauranga has expressed disappointment over the sentences handed down to 15 Greenpeace protesters who tried to stop a cargo ship from entering the port last week.
The cargo ship, East Ambition, was carrying a load of palm kernel from Indonesia.

14 Greenpeace protestors who appeared in Tauranga District Court.

Greenpeace believes palm kernel is contributing to mass deforestation in the country.
Fourteen of the protesters were charged with unlawfully boarding a ship and a fifteenth person was charged with being party to unlawfully boarding a ship.
Appearing in Tauranga District Court on Wednesday, 11 of the Greenpeace protesters were given diversion and the remaining four have intimated a guilty plea.
Tauranga Boys' College old boy Dominico Zapata was offered diversion.

Tauranga Boys' College old boy Dominico Zapata.

Port of Tauranga corporate services manager Terry James says the sentences do not send the right message to others who want to carry out similar protests.
'We are disappointed. It does nothing to deter future demonstrations of this type where health and safety is threatened and where people try to rescue these people from the precarious and dangerous situation they put themselves in,” says Terry.
He says the protest cost the port approximately $50,000 but does not know if the port will seek costs from Greenpeace.
Last week, Port of Tauranga CEO Mark Cairns indicated the company would seek costs.
The four protesters who intimated a guilty plea will appear in Auckland District Court on November 2 for sentencing.