A cargo ship reported to have struck a fishing boat off the East Cape this morning will be met by Maritime New Zealand officials when it berths at the Port of Tauranga this afternoon.

The cargo ship, Samjin, en-route from Port Chalmers in Dunedin, is reported to have struck the fishing boat 13 miles off the coast of Gisborne around 3am today.

Maritime New Zealand officials will greet cargo ship ‘Samjin' at the Port of Tauranga this afternoon.

The logship Samjin is scheduled to berth at the Port of Tauranga at 4.30pm today.

Maritime New Zealand spokesperson Steve Rendle says they are aware of the incident and will be investigating the accusations and talking to the skipper when the ship arrives.

'We are looking at one heading to Tauranga which has the AIS (Automatic Identification System) tracking system.

'We are also looking see if there are other vessels in the area which don't have the AIS which may have been involved.”

He says officials are not jumping to any conclusions because the men on board the fishing vessel have not identified the ship.

'We don't know as it's a bit early to say. We are keeping an open mind and talking to people as they are available.”

The boat struck by the ship is in radio contact with Maritime New Zealand and a second fishing boat is currently on route.

'I know that they need a tow but at this point are not in danger of sinking,” says Steve.