Hawkes Bay Regional Council is increasing the amount of insurance cover it has against ship groundings and clean-up operations.
The move is in response to the grounding of the Rena cargo ship on Tauranga's Astrolabe reef in October 2011 which has so far cost $275 million.
Manager of compliance and harbours Bryce Lawrence said the council feels its $25 million insurance cover is not enough should it be found liable for a disaster on the scale of the Rena grounding.
Mr Lawrence said councillors agreed to spend an extra $80,000 a year to increase the council's insurance cover to $100 million.
He said Napier Port will be asked to contribute to the cost of the extra cover.
