Container ship Vega Auriga is still in port at Tauranga today awaiting orders and is scheduled to depart tomorrow.

Port of Tauranga operations manager Phil Julian says the empty ship is re-fuelled and awaiting sailing directions from its owners, Hamburg-based Vega Reederei GmbH.

Vega Auriga is still berthed at the Port of Tauranga.

It is scheduled to leave at 2pm on Thursday.

A second Maritime New Zealand inspection yesterday gave the ship the all clear, after the initial inspection on Sunday found 14 deficiencies.

Vega Reederei GmbH is a fleet operator with 40 ships on its books.

The Mediterranean Shipping Company has off-hired to ship when it was banned from Australian ports for three months due to safety and other issues.

When it was banned in August, the ship was on time charter to MSC on its Australia, Noumea, and New Zealand routes.

The Australian ban is based on recurring safety issues arising from lack of maintenance of the ship, and the crew not being paid.

Unpaid crew is a factor the Australian authority can take into account under the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, which New Zealand is not yet party to.

The Australians detained Vega Auriga three times since July last year over repeated concerns for the welfare of the crew including improper payment of wages, inadequate living and working conditions and inadequate maintenance.

The Vega Auriga is the second of Vega Reederei's ships to make news in recent months.

The Maritime Executive online edition reports that in July the company ship Vega Reederei being picketed at the port of Long Beach in protest at the ship operators' failure to pay Filipino crew for up to four months.

The report alleges he owed the crew more than US$150,000 in unpaid wages, adding that the company has a history of failing to pay its crews.