Every year we undertake a range of planned and responsive activities to keep people safe and to protect the marine environment.
Compliance activities during the past year were conducted in accordance with the 2023-24 National Compliance Plan and focused on higher risk areas informed by safety data.
A summary of our business-as-usual compliance activities can be found in the:
- Annual Port State control report
- Maritime Labour Convention Annual Report
- Marine Incidents Annual Report
Our performance against the focus areas identified in the 2023-24 National Compliance Plan are detailed below.
2023-2024 focus area measured performance
FOCUS AREA 1: Port and flag State measured performance
| Desired outcome | Performance measure | 2023/24 Results | Key | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Risk Area 1: Continue to focus inspection efforts on those vessels considered a higher risk to Australia. | Group | Target Inspection Rate | Achieved Inspection Rate | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |
| Foreign flagged vessels eligible for PSC inspection | Minimum of 2400 inspections | 2,546 inspections completed from the 2,400 annual target | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ | |
| RAVs eligible for FSC inspection | 95% | 92 FSC inspections from the 120 target (76.67%) achieved. AMSA completed 6 FSC inspections overseas. These took considerably more resources than a routine inspection. | Within Threshold ✓✓ | |
| Risk Area 2: Fire safety | Participate in the Tokyo MOU joint Concentrated Inspection Campaign on Fire Safety from 1 Sept to 30 Nov 2023. | Quarter 2 | The Tokyo MOU CIC campaign commenced 1 September and concluded 30 November 2023. A total of 636 Inspections completed. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |
| Risk Area 3: Planned maintenance | Develop and publish education and guidance related to planned maintenance. | Ongoing | Education campaign was conducted from December 23 to June 24 through the use of social media. This included promoting the Marine Notice 10/2022—Planned maintenance on ships and Maritime Safety Awareness Bulletin 16—Planned maintenance. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |
| Risk Area 4: Regional safety focus (VIC): Verified gross mass measurement of containers | Continue to engage with relevant stakeholders across the freight network for containers shipped through Victorian ports to further reduce errors. | Ongoing | Ongoing coordinated stakeholder approach with terminal operators, ship owners/operators, representatives and shipping lines underway. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |
FOCUS AREA 2: Maritime Labour Convention measured performance
| Desired outcome | Performance measure | 2023/24 Results | Key | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Risk Area 1: Living and working conditions | Develop and publish Safety bulletin on safe working conditions and practices | Quarter 1 | Published bulletin on 21 September 2023: Maritime Safety Awareness Bulletin issue 18—Safe working conditions and practices. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |
| Develop and publish Safety bulletin on Title 2: Conditions of employment | Quarter 3 | Published bulletin on 3 April 2024: Maritime Safety Awareness Bulletin issue 19 — Conditions of employment. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ | |
FOCUS AREA 3: Domestic Commercial Vessels measured performance
| Desired outcome | Performance measure | 2023/24 Results | Key | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Risk Area 1: DCV Inspection targeting | Higher risk domestic commercial vessel (Priority 1 & 2) | 60% of DCV Inspections | 869 (42.56% of DCV inspections). Greater focus will be needed in the future to target higher risk vessels. | Within Threshold ✓✓ |
| Lower risk domestic commercial vessel (Priority 3 & 4) | 40% of DCV Inspections | 1,239 (57.40% of DCV Inspections). Target achieved, however in the future greater emphasis will be placed on targeting higher risk vessels. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ | |
| Conduct at least 2,300 inspections of DCVs based on vessel priority. | 2,300 | 2,108 inspections (91.7%) completed of 2,300 annual target. Target has largely been achieved. | Within Threshold ✓✓ | |
| Risk Area 2: Marine Order 504 (Certificates of operation and operation requirements – national law) | Conduct an education campaign on Marine Order 504 changes | Quarter 1 Quarter 2 | Education campaign was conducted during May-November 2023. The campaign included development of campaign hub, organic social media posts, AMSA update articles, targeted industry emails and a series of information sessions (online and face-to-face). | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |
| Focused inspection campaign on lifejacket wear requirements | Quarter 2 | Published advice on focused inspection campaign in August 2023: Focused inspection campaign—lifejacket risk assessment on DCVs. Focus inspection campaign completed on 30 November 2023 and 289 inspections carried out. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ | |
| Risk Area 3: Safe Navigation | Develop and publish education content focusing on safe navigation considerations in the safety management system | Quarter 2 | Educational content published on the AMSA website in March 2024: Navigation and anchor watch on domestic commercial vessels and Navigational watchkeeping principles. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |
| Risk Area 4: Electrical (including battery) safety | Develop and publish education campaign | Quarter 3 | Education content published on the AMSA website: Reducing the risk of electrical faults and fires and promoted through social media posts and publications. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |
| Risk Area 5: Reporting culture | Develop and distribute material on reporting marine incidents targeting Class 3 and Class 4 vessels. | Ongoing | Monthly DCV Incidents Report and Safety Lessons published on AMSA website. Social media campaign aimed to increase awareness incident reporting conducted throughout 2024. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |
| Risk Area 6: Regional NSW - Risk of hazardous gases | Education campaign on risk of hazardous gases on Class 1 and Class 4 vessels in NSW | Quarter 4 | Education content published on the AMSA website: Hazardous gases on vessels and promoted through social media posts and publications. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |
| Focused Inspection Campaign in NSW | Quarter 4 | Campaign has been re-scheduled and will now commence in September-December 2024 to allow time for education and coincide with vessel activity | Within Threshold ✓✓ | |
| Risk Area 7: Regional QLD –Vessel adventure rides and experiences | Education from data and industry insights for owners/masters and others operating vessel adventure rides and experiences. | Quarter 2 Quarter 3 | Published the focused inspection campaign in October 2023: Focused inspection campaign – Vessel adventure rides and experiences (amsa.gov.au). Guidelines published on the AMSA website: Safety guidelines for marine adventure tourism operators (amsa.gov.au) and New guidelines for marine adventure tourism operators (amsa.gov.au). | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |
| Focused inspection campaign (NT, QLD and WA) | 50 | 54 inspections were conducted. 7 FIC in the West region and 47 completed in the North with ongoing regional efforts and follow up. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ | |
| Risk Area 8: Regional Torres Strait & Top End - Safe vessel operations | Conduct safety management system and safety education workshops | Quarter 2 Quarter 3 | A number of workshops were carried out in the Torres Strait. Will review options to undertake further workshops in 24/25 FY. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |
| Risk Area 9: Survey instructions | Support accredited surveyors through engagement and development of new instructions to surveyors. | Quarter 1 to Quarter 3 | Conducted multiple consultation engagements with accredited marine surveyors (AMS) for new instructions, including co-development discussions at 23/24 AMSA workshops. ITS-22 Methods of inspections of foam buoyancy, hull voids and fuel tank compartments published. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |
| Risk area 10: NSCV C4 Fire safety and plan approval compliance | Conduct focused reviews of fire safety aspects during certification assessments. Improve structural fire protection and fixed fire system assessment and survey. | Ongoing | Since July last year, 21% of new certificate of survey applications (approximately 160) could not be processed on the first assessment due to issues with plan approval letters or fire system recommendations. Poor plan approvals caused more delays for applicants in the 23/24 FY than fire system issues, affecting around 120 applications. Fire safety issues held up approximately 40 applications. These issues, however, can also lead to more serious consequences, including the refusal of applications. When viewed through the lens of refusal, fire system issues are more likely to result in refusal for applicants 5% of fire system issues led to application refusals, compared to 1.6% of plan approval issues. Of the 5 total refusals for the 23/24 FY plan approval and fire system issues each account for 2 refusals. This means that 4 out of 5 certificate of survey refusals (80%) were due to these issues in the 23/24 FY. AMSA has observed an improvement in accredited marine surveyor (AMS) awareness and submission quality over the Focused Certification Campaign (FCC) period. Fire safety and plan approvals are being assessed as part of Certificate of Survey (CoS) assessments. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |
| Conduct focused reviews of plan approval letter content during certification assessments. Educate industry on the need for clear and transparent design approval documentation. | Ongoing | |||
FOCUS AREA 4: Environmental measured performance
| Desired outcome | Performance measure | 2023/24 Results | Key | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Risk Area 1: MARPOL Annex V – Domestic commercial vessels | Develop and publish education campaign on vessel sourced garbage | Ongoing | Education content published at Stop garbage pollution from domestic commercial vessels | Australian Maritime Safety Authority (amsa.gov.au) and promoted through social media posts and publications. | Met Target / On Track ✓✓✓ |