The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has published its Marine Incident Annual Report 2025, revealing it had received a total of 4,174 marine incident reports along with 452 marine safety concerns.
The Report analyses marine incidents across domestic commercial vessels (DCVs), foreign-flagged vessels (FFVs) and regulated Australian vessels (RAVs), identifying trends across the entire fleet over the past five years. Continue reading “AMSA reveals 4,174 marine incidents in 2025”
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) issues a safety bulletin highlighting that improperly secured cargo continues to contribute to container losses, prompting renewed focus on inspections, crew training and weather preparedness. According to the World Shipping Council (WSC), the number of containers lost at sea has fluctuated over the 17 years of recorded data. The overall trend is encouraging. Despite occasional spikes, long-term data shows a clear decline in container losses compared to earlier years. At the same time, awareness and caution surrounding cargo loss have increased. Continue reading “AMSA issues safety bulletin highlighting improperly secured cargo”
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has announced that the updated Marine Order 16 (Load Lines) 2025 (MO16) and Marine Order 19 (Tonnage Measurements) 2025 (MO19) have taken effect on 1 September 2025 as apart of its new regulations on load lines and tonnage. According to AMSA’s latest update, the revisions aim to align Australia’s maritime regulations with international standards, supporting safer and more effective operations in domestic and international waters. Continue reading “New regulations on load lines and tonnage started in Australia”
The AMSA National Compliance Plan 2025-2026 has been published by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. It outlines a number of key compliance activities that support welfare, safety and pollution prevention across domestic and foreign-flagged vessels.
According to the AMSA National Compliance Plan 2025-2026, the authority outlines priority activities for the upcoming year, providing industry with a clear understanding of the regulatory focus and rationale. Continue reading “AMSA National Compliance Plan 2025-2026 published”
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has released its report, “New build trends in Australia’s domestic fleet 2023-2024”, featuring the latest innovations in vessel design, materials and certification shaping the industry and highlighting the six leading trends influencing the Australian domestic fleet. Continue reading “Six leading trends influencing the Australian domestic fleet”
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has issued a ‘refusal of access Direction’ to the Netherlands-flagged general cargo ship Marsgracht, banning the ship from entering Australian ports for 180 days.
On 6 February, the Marsgracht was detained at Port Alma for improper stowage of dangerous goods – contrary to the International Maritime Organization’s International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code.
Despite this, during a port state control inspection at the same port on 14 November 2024, 9 months later, the Marsgracht was again detained for improper stowage of dangerous goods. Continue reading “AMSA bans Marsgracht, a cargo ship from Australian ports”
Starting from 1st April 2019, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has applied changes to shipping registration laws.
Registering a ship: There are no changes to the way that you register a ship on the Australian Registers unless you do not know the vessel’s full ownership history. Namely:
– Ships registered on the Australian general shipping register have Australian nationality.
– Registration of a ship on the Australian general shipping register provides legally and internationally recognisable nationality to your ship. When registered, you will have Australian protection on the high seas and in foreign ports.
Continue reading “AMSA changes to shipping registration have come into force”
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has experienced a steady increase in incident reports from 1,721 in 2013 to 3,017 reports in 2017. This is a 75% increase over a five-year period. For the period from 1 January to 30 June 2018, AMSA received 1,611 incident reports.
– During 2013-2017, the number of ship arrivals to Australian ports has increased by 21%.
From the 1611 incident reports in January-June 2018, the vast majority of occurrences (78%) concerned some form of technical issue.
– Among the technical issues, the most predominant occurrences relate to power, propulsion, and steering. This includes, for example, issues with a vessel’s main and auxiliary engines, and the steering gear and rudder.
AMSA uses incident data in combination with other sources of information, such as inspection and survey reports, research findings, accident investigations, and our day-to-day interaction with vessel crews, owners, and operators. This helps us gain a better understanding of Continue reading “AMSA stresses the importance of marine incident reports”
AMSA, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority and regulator, has announced that from 1 July 2018 all domestic commercial vessels that are required to have a certificate of survey will need to be surveyed in accordance with the frequency and requirements in the new marine order 503, and Part 2 of the Marine Surveyor Manual. This includes ‘grandfathered’ vessels, which to date have been surveyed in accordance with the National Standards for the Administration of Marine Safety (NSAMS) 4, the USL Code, or other survey processes.
These changes implement the outcomes of the Decision Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) under the National System for Domestic Continue reading “AMSA takes control of domestic commercial vessels”
AMSA has issued new edition of its publication ‘ Working Boats’ including information regarding changes in its certification and accreditation services.
Currently, even though AMSA is responsible for regulating domestic commercial vessels (DCVs) across Australia, the way you get your services — such as certificates and vessel IDs, undertaking surveys and the fees associated with these services — is not the same around the country. Those services are currently delivered by each state and territory, which sets its own procedures and fees for these services.
Continue reading “AMSA notifies changes in its certification and accreditation services from 2017”
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has issued a marine notice about the international delivery of domestic commercial vessels and near coastal vessels operating overseas in order to provide general guidance to owners and/or operators of domestic commercial vessels.
All Australian commercial vessels 24 metres or more in tonnage length, and any Australian vessel (including domestic commercial vessels and recreational craft) in international waters are required to be registered in accordance with the Shipping Registration Act 1981 (unless a specific exemption applies). All Australian vessels which operate in international waters fall within the definition of a Regulated Australian Vessel (RAV) as a result of s15 of the Navigation Act 2012 (Navigation Act).
AMSA warns of rubber fender scam that has been growing in popularity and is extremely sophisicated, using a falsification of AMSA’s crest and stamp to endorse rubber fenders.
Ship Safety Division general manager Allan Schwartz said the scam contained what appears to be a certification or approval letter from AMSA’s “quality control department” for the ‘yokohama’ style of fenders, designed for the berthing and mooring of a ship to another ship or berthing structure.
“These letters bear a stamp and crest in the name of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority,” Mr Schwartz said.
Instagram Posts from the IIMS @iimsmarine