Commercial vessel biosecurity reporting

All commercial vessels must use MARS for vessel pre-arrival reporting.

Commercial vessel types that must use MARS to report noting that some vessels having additional requirements to be met:

Assessing the biosecurity risk

On arrival at an Australian port, that is a first point of entry, an inspection of the vessel by biosecurity officers may be conducted to assess and manage potential biosecurity risks.

These risks include:

• Human health disease concerns from travellers
• Food stores and galleys that could be housing stored product pests or diseased fruit and vegetables
• Waste (garbage) such as dry stores, cooked and uncooked meat, vegetable scraps and eggs) as a breeding ground for exotic pests and diseases
• Ballast water
• Marine pests (biofouling)
• Animals and rodents including ships pets, hitch hikers or imported animals carrying disease
• Plants and insects and disease carrying organisms such as souvenirs with plant and animal content and items with feathers and seeds that can carry exotic pests, disease organisms or plant pests.

Barges and towed vessels

Barges and dredges are classified as commercial vessels by the department and are subject to biosecurity pre-arrival reporting requirements. A barge is a flat-bottomed vessel typically pushed or towed for the transport of heavy goods. Towed vessels include, but are not limited to the following vessel types:

• barges (dumb barges; jack-up barges; pipe-laying barges)
• dredges
• mobile offshore drilling units (semi-submersible rigs; jack-up rigs)
• floatels (floating accommodation barges).

Where vessels are towed from an international port and transferred to an Australian vessel outside Australian territory for delivery into a port, the master of the (Australian) vessel is required to submit pre-arrival reporting.

Livestock carriers

Livestock vessels entering Australian territory are considered to be of high biosecurity risk due to the nature of the cargo.

Information provided to the department in pre-arrival reporting, such as the Pre-Arrival Report (PAR) and Ballast Water Report and statement by the person in charge of livestock vessel is used to assess the actual risks attributable to individual vessels.

All livestock vessels must undergo inspection on every visit to Australia, irrespective of the vessel’s history or last port of call.

All livestock vessels are inspected at berth. Vessels must also be thoroughly cleaned disinfected, (with Soda Ash) and disinsected prior to arrival, in accordance with biosecurity procedures. For more information see Information for livestock exporters and industry participants.