We offer nationally recognised units of competency in marine pollution response and incident management.

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

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 purpose of this marine notice is to draw attention to the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Recommendations for the carriage of plastic pellets by sea in freight containers, which were released on 19 April 2024.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

Find out about AMSA’s performance and stay informed about our progress against key initiatives for 2024–25.

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).

A Class 1 passenger vessel’s port engine caught fire whilst northeast of Fraser Island with 82 passengers and crew onboard. The investigation found that regular planned engine maintenance, in accordance with manufacturer’s specifications, was not in place at the time of the incident. The crew’s response to the incident was immediate and effective. The transfer of the 77 passengers to a nearby vessel, which attended the distress call within 10 minutes, was undertaken quickly and effectively by the master and crew.

The inaugural Australian VTS Award saw Brisbane VTS operators Todd Stewart and Ricky Blake commended for their actions, which had a profound impact on the outcome of two men and a young boy lost at sea.

At AMSA, we believe in supporting you to be the best version of yourself.

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.

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