In this edition we talk about marine surveyor accreditation renewals, a marine safety incident and a safety recall notice.

We celebrated Hulita Lamasialeva Fa’anunu’s achievements on World Maritime Day last year. She embodied the 2019 theme—empowering women in the maritime community.

A charter vessel with passengers was conducting a cruise around Sydney Harbour when it narrowly missed an unlit runabout at night. The vessel ran aground, and two attempts to tow the vessel off the sandbank were unsuccessful. The investigation found that the master did not risk-assess the route and respective conditions. The vessel safety management system provided the master with no clear direction on safe routes to follow. The command, control, and communication with and between the crew in relation to emergency procedures and response was ineffective.

On Sunday 9 January 2012, the cargo vessel the MV Tycoon broke free from its mooring at Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island, and washed against the seawall and nearby cliff face. The ship had been loading phosphate at the time of the incident.

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.

Find out how domestic commercial vessels (DCVs) performed on safety, crew training, incident reporting and more during our focussed inspections campaign on towage operations.

January - March 2026There were 335 reported incidents involving domestic commercial vessels in Quarter 1 of 2026. Of these, 44 were serious and 1 very serious.

Providing 24/7 search and rescue (SAR) service for Australia.

This marine notice provides information on how the automatic channel switching feature in VHF digital selective calling (DSC) radios may impact voice communications during safety critical operations.

If you’re a seafarer or marine surveyor and want to apply for a skilled visa to live and work in Australia, you may need a migration skills assessment. Find out what you need to do and how to apply.

The mooring snagged on an unseen underwater object and the chain was pulled out of the bow roller and down the side of the vessel. The vessel capsized with no resulting injuries.

In this edition we talk about Lightship declarations and the law, new surveyor accreditation guidance manual part 2 now available and electrical issues able to be identified by non-electrical periodic surveyors.

We work with a range of stakeholders on education and safety in the Torres Strait.

Find out about the search and rescue incidents we attended between July 2019 and June 2020

Read previous AMSA update editions from 2024

As the national standard is updated, generic equivalent standards (GES) are being superseded.

We have four Bombardier Challenger 604 jet aircraft for search and rescue. The Challengers are based out of Perth, Melbourne and Cairns.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has developed tools to support the implementation of the low sulphur fuel limit.

A lone cray fisher was heading for shelter during poor weather. He had been working for 17 hours without rest. While nearing the planned anchor point, the master fell asleep at the helm and the vessel continued on, running aground on the rocky shoreline.

Alerts the maritime industry to findings of two recent accident investigations conducted by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and the New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission.