On the evening of 2 April 2022, a Sydney Harbour ferry was operating a regular route between Manly and Circular Quay. A group of young males were exhibiting risk taking behaviour on the deck during adverse weather conditions. One of the group jumped, stumbled, and fell overboard without a lifejacket. The master came about and followed the ferry track back at dead slow to find the person overboard (POB). The POB had the presence of mind to use his mobile phone torch light in the dark to alert the master of his presence and was rescued.

Our organisation has observed that a number of Administrations are issuing dispensations to ships where a defect has occurred to a critical piece of equipment. There are differing circumstances where we will and will not accept the dispensation.

As manager of Australia’s National Plan, we have a fixed wing aerial dispersant capability as a key component of Australia’s capacity to respond to oil spills in the marine environment.

These instructions for ship registration and transfer of ownership are provided for ship brokers and agents.

The Modernised Australian Ship Tracking and Reporting System (MASTREP) is a ship reporting system designed to contribute to safety of life at sea.

Find out the requirements you need to fulfill to obtain an international endorsement.

It is mandatory under Australian law for certain vessels and fixed or floating platforms to carry a garbage management plan, display placards and maintain a garbage record book.

The Sylvan Arrow was found guilty of discharging an oily mixture into the sea west of Wilson’s Promontory, Victoria on 18 December 1999.

Learn how non-shipborne AIS units are managed and find out what’s required to apply to operate a base station or AtoN in Australia.

AMSA’s mission is ensuring safe vessel operations, combating marine pollution and rescuing people in distress.

We maintain a database which assists us to calculate the risk factor of a vessel. This lets us target elevated risk vessels for inspection. 

We are the Australian Government agency responsible for implementing the 1 January 2020 low sulphur fuel regulation as set out in the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).

Dispersants can be effective response tools. Use of dispersants is dependent on many factors including timing, properties of the oil, and logistics.

Following a report to AMSA, and subsequent investigation, the Pax Phoenix was fined for illegally discharging oily water into the marine environment near Holbourne Island, Queensland on 2 September 2001.

Monitoring an oil spill is necessary to address concerns raised about its effects and the impact of the associated cleanup response.

Our search and rescue modules provide background information as well as information about preparation, principles of how to conduct a search and rescue operation and how to respond to specific kinds of emergency.

The establishment of Australia's search and rescue (SAR) response system.

Standards for domestic commercial vessels, largely replaced by the NSCV for new vessels.

In 2023, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted a revised strategy on reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ships.