The Port at Lyttleton is scheduled to reopen on Thursday afternoon to allow food and supplies into the tiny community in the middle of Tuesday’s earthquake.

The earthquake’s epicentre was only around 5 kilometres below Lyttleton, and its port has been closed ever since.

Port CEO Peter Davie says final assessments are underway, and they hope to have it up and running before long.

"There’s two essential parts for us; one is we’ve got to get right through the port and get a really detailed assessment of the different places; but the second part is actually talking with the region and working out what roads and bridges are available to get goods to and from the city.

"So we are starting down that path today."

Mr Davie says the first priority once business is resumed will be getting food and water to the town’s 4000 residents.

"We’ve done an assessment of all of our assets.

"We’ve got a good understanding now of our immediate future, so we will be unloading fuel from either Friday or Saturday this week, so there will be fuel coming into the city.

"We also have limited container operations within four to eight KM’s, so that will allow food etc to get in - that’s our priority; other cargo will have to wait."

Mr Davie says those from the Navy ship Canterbury have been immensely helpful in the recovery and clean up process so far.