Brown Marmorated Stink Bug – measures for the new season 2023/2024

Published: 12 December 2023

The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) season 2023-2024 began on 1 September. See the measures for this season introduced by countries for ships arriving from targeted "BMSB" countries.

The new season for BMSBs bugs started on 1 September 2023. For the 2023/20224 season, Australia and New Zealand being the leading countries for BMSB measures; have implemented the seasonal measures as follows:

Targeted goods manufactured in, or shipped from target risk countries

Vessels that berth at, load or tranship from target risk countries

Goods that have been shipped between 1 September and 30 April ( inclusive)

The list of countries targeted for having BMSBs has now grown to 39 countries, adding the latest country, Uzbekistan to the list. Countries that have been identified as emerging risk countries for this season are United Kingdom and China.

Note that New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries has amended its Import Health Standard for Sea Containers from all countries which came into force on 19 August 2022 as part of the consolidated Import Health Standard that also entered into force on the same date. The Import Health Standard for Vehicles, Machinery and Parts which came into force on 11 August 2021 remains. These revised standards impose various requirements for certain goods as well as specific ones for sea containers coming from Italy and used vehicles from Japan.

To see all of the above requirements, please refer to our section on Flighted Spongy Moth complex & phytosanitary restrictions Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Regulations for full details.

BIMCO Recommendations

If you are operating ships heading for Australia, New Zealand, Chile or Fiji, you should ensure that the above BMSB seasonal measures are complied with in order to avoid ships being turned away from their territorial waters, notwithstanding that the responsibility for ensuring the cargo is "clean" lies with the importers.

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