Biosecurity threat sees dirty-bottomed boats ordered out of New Zealand waters

Friday, 8 March 2019

More dirty-bottomed ships are getting the heave-ho from New Zealand ports with some forced to leave halfway through unloading cargo and pay for costly offshore clean ups.

Our tough national biofouling regulations are a world first, and despite getting four years warning of the impending changes, they are a rude shock for shipping operators who fail to keep things pristine below the waterline

The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) has taken action against 14 vessels that have fallen foul of new regulations officially introduced last May to keep out potentially invasive marine organisms and devastating aquatic diseases.

Those targeted included a foreign military ship, four bulk carriers, five container vessels and a tanker.

* MPI orders 'dirty' ship containing palm kernel to leave Tauranga

Cruise lines say compliance with stricter rules about biofouling is proving expensive.

* Mediterranean fanworm spreads its unwelcome reach to Golden Bay

* Shaggy-bottomed boat sparks marine pest fears in Picton**

Six vessels were ordered to leave New Zealand waters within 24 hours to reduce the risk of hitchhiking marine life spawning or making itself at home here, while other ships faced restrictions on the number of ports they could visit.

New Zealand does not have a dry dock big enough to cater for large commercial vessels, so nipping outside the 12 nautical mile territorial limit for a hull clean by commercial divers is an option for those deemed a serious biofouling risk.

The price of a clean hull

But it's a dangerous business removing slime and crustaceans from huge vessels in open seas. Expensive too.

General manager of New Plymouth-based Phoenix Shipping Billy Preston cites the example of an oil tanker that underwent an off-shore clean taking two weeks and costing $500,000 after being given 24 hours to leave.

'The company had to charter another oil tanker to take that cargo. They not only had the half million dollar cleaning cost, but another half million to charter another ship, so there's $1 million. Thank you MPI.'

Another vessel ordered out part way through unloading steel went to Australia where the cargo was put on another ship and sent back here, delaying delivery by up to six weeks. 'The cost of that was horrendous.'

Preston, who is the president of the New Zealand Shipping Agents Association, says the industry supports efforts to safeguard our marine environment from unwanted invaders.

A diver inspects wharf piles in Bluff Harbour for invasive marine species.

'Everyone is all for it, but MPI has not come up with a practical solution to make it work.'

Industry sources have suggested shipping costs could rise by as much as 20 per cent to cover the added expense of complying with the new biofouling rules and Preston says that's a realistic prospect.

'Charterers and ship owners are getting a little bit frightened about coming to New Zealand.'

Cruise ships are also finding the stricter regime a challenge.

ISS McKay is the agent for major cruise lines such as Carnival and the Royal Group, and spokesman Richard Carvolho says they follow MPI rules 'to the T' but it is proving expensive, costing 'heaps more'.

The threat from voracious pests

MPI has a 'watch list' of 11 pests and biosecurity advisor Katie Lubarsky paints a grim picture if marine nasties such as the Northern Pacific sea star were to become established.

'It's a really voracious predator – huge swathes of them march along eating everything they come across so it would be really detrimental to the aquaculture industry and to our native biodiversity.'

Other pests are already here - the Mediterranean fanworm arrived in 2008 – and the aim is to prevent them spreading further.

Principal scientist Dr Graeme Inglis heads the biosecurity research programme at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).

He says aquatic diseases are also a worry and we still don't know the source of the devastating oyster parasite bonamia ostreae, first identified in the Marlborough Sounds and Nelson in 2015.

Climate change and warmer sea temperatures could also render us more vulnerable to infestations of marine pests that would not previously have survived here.

'The other thing we need to be worried about is that there will be changes in our native species that makes them more susceptible to diseases or competition from other species.

'It's hard to predict who will be the winners and who will be the losers.'

Banning dirty bottoms

Lubarsky says the New Zealand is the first country to introduce national biofouling standards consistent with International Maritime Organisation guidelines released in 2011, but the state of California has made similar moves, Australia is well on the way and other countries are expected to follow suite.

Shipping companies have an incentive to maintain clean hulls because it helps lower fuel bills.

But Lubarsky says they aren't always so diligent about cleaning niches and cavities where marine life can hide out.

Tube worms and other organisms discovered on the hull of the Indonesian ship DL Marigold in 2017 led to it being told to leave New Zealand waters. (File photo)

'Sometimes they're just neglected because it's not a huge contributor to fuel efficiency.

'We make the analogy that cleaning the flat surfaces is like taking your car through a car wash, it gets the easier-to-reach underside clean, but there's still a bunch of mud and stuff stuck underneath and in all the recesses.'

MPI argues the shipping industry got plenty of warning about the new approach and it began exercising its ability to boot out biofouling offenders well before last year's official deadline.

In early 2017 the palm kernel bulk carrier the DL Marigold was ordered to leave Tauranga within 24 hours after arriving from Indonesia with a hull densely carpeted in barnacles and tube worms.

Lubarsky says they tried hard to educate shippers about their responsibilities and those subject to compliance action were a tiny fraction of the 2579 commercial vessels that came here last year.

'It's less than 1 per cent.'

So what's the fuss about?

MPI recommends long stay vessels clean their hulls and niche areas less than 30 days before arrival in New Zealand and that includes cruise liners visiting multiple ports and sensitive marine areas like Fiordland.

Vessels that can't do that can submit craft risk management plans outlining biofouling prevention methods, providing photos and videos as proof of cleanliness.

MPI's website says vessels can also comply by booking a hull clean within 24 hours of arrival with an 'approved treatment supplier,' but when Stuff pointed out there were none approved for commercial vessels, it agreed to amend the wording.

Preston says New Zealand desperately needs a dry dock able to take ships up to 240m long (the one at Devonport has a limit of 170m).

Vessels normally go into dry dock for a full marine survey and hull clean every five years, and he says many of the vessels targeted by MPI have one year to go before they are due for a trip to dry dock.

The Northern Pacific sea star has the potential to decimate New Zealand's aquaculture industry if it got established here.

'It's a very expensive exercise to just put a ship in a dry dock to get the hull cleaned, then go back in 12 months to finish off the survey work.'

In-water cleaning of large vessels in New Zealand waters is not permitted because we do not yet have technology able to filter and collect micro-organisms or anti-fouling paint residues.

Inglis says trials of equipment capable to doing this are underway here, and in the meantime there are concerns about the potential for contamination even if ships are cleaned outside the 12 mile limit.

'That's not ideal if they're not capturing the material.'

According to Lubarksy MPI would not condone in-water cleaning, but once a vessel leaves territorial waters MPI has no jurisdiction over its actions.

Auckland maritime lawyer Simon Cartwright says installing a submarine buoy off the coast where ships could moor for cleaning would be a safer alternative to servicing a heaving untethered 25,000 tonne vessel out in the ocean.

'I spent 10 years in the Middle East and I had cases where divers were lost and never recovered cleaning ships in strong currents within territorial waters. It happens, it's a really dangerous job.'

Downstream fall out

Cartwright acts for foreign ship owners and New Zealand-based charterers importing bulk commodities like fertiliser, or exporting logs.

He says MPI lacks resources and getting timely decisions is a problem.

Transportable floating docks like this one in Nelson allow smaller vessels to be cleaned without potentially harmful marine pests being released into the water. But New Zealand lacks a dry dock large enough to cater for big commercial vessels.

Three of his clients' vessels were asked to leave while loading or unloading was in progress.

'People would accept it more if they made the decision almost immediately and said 'you can't discharge until we look at the hull first before unloading starts'.'

Quitting port without fully discharging cargo has all sorts of financial and legal implications, Cartwright says.

'It's that gap between well-intentioned legislation and commercial reality.

'The guy who is waiting for his cargo is concerned because half of it is still in the ship, so there's a risk to the cargo.

'If he needs it immediately, then he has a problem. If he's selling it to someone else he is potentially breaching his sale contract.

'There's an on-going discussion about who should wear that cost.

'At the moment it's a very soft shipping market and the ship owners are mostly prepared to accept that risk, but that may change as the market firms and they have more business elsewhere.'

Coastal shipping is next

Northland Regional Council divers prepare to inspect a vessel's hull for Mediterranean fanworm. (File photo)

The Mediterranean fanworm was first discovered in New Zealand in 2008. This marine pest is now established in Auckland, Northland, Bay of Plenty and the top of the South Island.

MPI covers biosecurity standards for international vessels, but local coastal shipping companies are also being caught in the tighter biofouling net.

New Zealand Shipping Federation chief executive Annabel Young says the standards for coastal waters are set by regional councils.

They differ from each other, and are often inconsistent with those used by MPI.

'Some say you can clean your ship into a tarpaulin, others say no you can't do that, you have to go offshore.

'Northland Regional Council is saying they will introduce a rule that says between Auckland and Northland you have to clean your ship, and that adds at least a day to the route.

'If you try to get people to clean their ship between every port, and if you are a ship that goes from port to port to port, cleaning between every port, that adds a day every time.'

Like Preston, she says a dry dock capable to servicing large commercial vessels is the real answer.

MPI is sympathetic, but Lubarsky says their hands are tied.

'MPI can only approve [existing facilities], we can't go out and say somebody has to build a dry dock, we can only approve an available facility, and they have to come to us and show us they have all the systems in place to manage the biosecurity risk.'