We’d like to bring to the attention of all boat importers an industry notice we recently received concerning “tarping requirements” for imported goods which are found to contain Biosecurity risk materials.
The Department of Agriculture (Biosecurity) have issued an industry notice advising that any machinery found to have arrived in Australia contaminated with Biosecurity risk materials. (Ie: materials as dirt, leaves, debris etc) must be tarped before movement to a Quarantine approved premises for cleaning and re-inspection.
The notice as received via our peak industry body reads as follows:-
27 JUN 2023
It is a Biosecurity requirement that contaminated machinery, vehicles and the like are tarped prior to movement off-wharf.
Tarping should be done such that the contamination is contained. Therefore, in most if not all cases, contaminated goods must be envelope tarped for movement; although in some instances partial wrapping including the underside may be accepted if it manages the necessary biosecurity risks.
The department has recently noticed an increase in the amount of machinery (particularly new machinery) arriving contaminated resulting in requests for the cargo to be moved off-wharf for cleaning.
If an entity is required to move contaminated goods off-wharf for cleaning, then the Department directs those goods for tarping such that the risk is contained during movement. For locations such as Port Kembla, movement off-wharf to approved cleaning facilities does mean moving goods to Sydney.
As always, machinery/vehicles that arrive free of biosecurity risk material and do not require further intervention are released and free to move off-wharf without issue.
Whilst the notice does not specifically refer to boats, they are dealt with under this policy.
The decision whether to direct goods to be tarped before movement to a registered depot for cleaning & re-inspection is entirely at the discretion of the Biosecurity officer on duty. Once the decision has been made, there is no choice but to comply.
The costs (including labour and materials) associated with tarping are borne by the importer.
Further to this, there is the risk of additional costs (such as wharf storage) also accruing.
And finally…. there will be delays to the delivery.
In order to reduce the risk, we would encourage importers to consider having boats shrink-wrapped prior to shipping. Whilst there are no guarantees, we see this as the most practical way of limiting the risk.
If you have any questions or concerns, please get in contact with a member of our team to discuss further.
