We regulate the safety of domestic commercial, regulated Australian and foreign-flagged vessels in Australian waters.
Our maritime industries are incredibly diverse, from sole operator crabbers who work on 3-metre fishing vessels in remote areas of the Northern Territory, through to bulk carriers loading coal in Queensland and iron ore in Western Australia, busy passenger ferries in Sydney and Melbourne, and cruise liners carrying thousands of people across the Bass Strait to Tasmania.
Here is an overview of our regulatory interactions with the people and vessels that work in these diverse maritime industries, as well as some insights into recurring safety and pollution issues.
In 2022, we conducted 2,671 inspections on domestic commercial vessels (DCVs), 2,405 of foreign-flagged vessels (FFVs), and 95 of regulated Australian vessels (RAVs). We received reports of 1,054 marine incidents involving DCVs, 3,837 involving FFVs and 268 involving RAVs.
We processed thousands of certificates of competency for our domestic seafarers under the National Law for Domestic Commercial Vessels, and for our seafarers qualified internationally under the Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping (STCW).
These insights, informed by data analysed from incidents, investigations and inspections and published in our annual reports, will help inform where and how we prioritise our compliance efforts for the coming year.
These priorities or ‘risk’ and ‘focus’ areas are outlined in our annual National Compliance Plans.
We will launch our next National Compliance Plan for 2023-24 in July, so stay tuned and subscribe to our channels for updates.
Read the media release on State of the Fleet.