The Port of Tauranga is the winner of an employer of the year award for showing flexibility and support in helping staff spend time with the armed forces.

It has won the Territorial Forces Employer Support Council's Bay of Plenty Regional Employer Support Committee's employer of the year award.

Lieutenant Commander Andrew Wilson and Port of Tauranga CEO Mark Cairns at the port this morning.

Lieutenant Commander Andrew Wilson of the Royal New Zealand Navy Volunteer Reserve nominated his employer, Port of Tauranga Ltd, for the award.

He works at the port and is a member of the Tauranga Unit of HMNZS Ngapona.

He has served on operations and exercises overseas during the past three years, including six months in Sudan as a military observer with the United Nations.

To undertake these missions the port had to provide him with leave from his work.

The officer in charge of HMNZS Ngapona Tauranga Unit, Lieutenant Commander Gerard McGrath, says this employer award recognises that contribution.

'Representatives of the Port of Tauranga will be at the national final of the Territorial Force Employer of the Year function with other regional winners in Wellington in early 2012 when a national winner will be named.”