Outcome 1

Outcome 2

Output 1.3: Major Activities 2002-2003

National Maritime Place of Refuge Risk Assessment Guidelines

During 2002-2003, the National Plan Management Committee finalised the National Maritime Place of Refuge Risk Assessment Guidelines for the provision of places of refuge for damaged and disabled ships. The Guidelines were formally endorsed by the Australian Transport Council in May 2003.

The Guidelines will assist Australian maritime administrations, ship masters and owners and the maritime industry in identifying places of refuge in circumstances where an emergency cannot be dealt with at sea and following appropriate procedures to access a place of refuge. A place of refuge is a place where a ship in need of assistance can find favourable conditions enabling it to take action to stabilise its condition, protect human life and reduce the hazards to navigation and to the environment.

The Guidelines complement existing State/Northern Territory arrangements, and are to be applied in a manner consistent with the principles of international law, in particular those relating to the balance of interests between a ship in distress and Australia's national interest. It is intended to test the operation of the guidelines in future exercises and simulated pollution incidents that are regularly conducted under the National Plan.

Pollution Response

During 2002-2003, there were no major ship-sourced marine pollution incidents in Australian waters. However, National Plan equipment and personnel were also involved as part of contingency arrangements in response to several ship grounding incidents, although these did not result in pollution. These included: ANL Excellence in Moreton Bay in Queensland on 19 July 2002, Doric Chariot, on Piper Reef in Queensland on 29 July 2002, Hanjin Dampier, at Dampier in Western Australia on 25 August 2002 and Pactrader at Thevenard in South Australia on 1 March 2003.

In October 2002 the bulk carrier Tai Ping grounded near Bluff on the South Island of New Zealand. At the request of the Maritime Safety Authority of New Zealand, AMSA provided some equipment, including an oil recovery vessel, and personnel to assist with contingency arrangements.

On 18 March 2003 almost 2,000 tonnes of light crude oil seeped from a ruptured pipeline at Lytton near the mouth of the Brisbane River in Queensland. Local authorities dammed the drainage creeks and placed booms at the creeks' entrance to prevent oil entering port waters. National Plan equipment was deployed as part of the clean up of this land based spill.

There were nine exercises and training programs conducted under National Plan arrangements, including a major desktop training exercise involving a simulated incident in Torres Strait. This tested marine pollution response arrangements under the Torres Strait Contingency Action Plan (Torres Plan), and international cooperative arrangements under the 1997 Memorandum of Understanding between Australia and Papua New Guinea.

International Cooperation and Consultation

Under the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation 1990, AMSA, the Maritime Safety Authority of New Zealand and the United States Coast Guard are assisting the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) formulate a Regional Oil Spill Equipment Strategy. This will provide guidance to SPREP member countries on the minimum response equipment they need to ensure their preparedness for oil spills incidents at both national and regional levels.

AMSA attended and presented papers to the International Marine Salvage Conference in London in March 2003 and to the International Oil Spill Conference in Vancouver, Canada, in April 2003.

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