Brown Marmorated Stink Bug - new season new rules
Overview
For the new season beginning September 2019, New Zealand, Australia and Chile have introduced tougher rules to combat increasing spread of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMST) coming from targeted "BMST" countries.
The new season for BMSBs bugs has started in September and with that, a whole new string of measures has been implemented jointly by New Zealand and Australia to stem the tide of these bugs coming into their countries. For the 2019/2020 season, these measures include:
- Introduction of a joint ‘Offshore BMSB Treatment Providers Scheme’. A list of approved treatment providers is jointly maintained by New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and the Department of Agriculture in Australia and published on both websites.
- Alignment of treatment options. While the three treatment options, heat treatment, methyl bromide fumigation and sulfuryl fluoride fumigation, remain the same, it is important to note that some treatment application rates have changed.
Due to the rapid spread of these BMSBs in Europe and North America, the list of countries targetted for having BMSBs has now grown to 33 countries for New Zealand and Australia.
New Zealand's MPI has released new versions of their "Import Health Standard for Vehicles, Machinery and Parts" and the " Import Health Standard for Sea Containers from all countries" which entered into force on 22 July and 19 July 2019 respectively. 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.
MPI has also issued a "stick bug warning to importers" including shippers who may be unaware of these new rules to take the necessary action required.
The Chilean Agriculture and Livestock Service has also applied similar measures via their amended resolution (No.5607/2019) to No. 971/2018, both of which are unfortunately in Spanish.
To see all the above requirements, our section on "Asian Gypsy Moth & phytosanitary restrictions/Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Regulations" has all the details.
BIMCO Recommendations
Members operating ships heading for Australia, New Zealand and Chile 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 of ensuring the cargo is ¨'clean' lies with the importers.
Feedback or a question about this information?
Posted:
20 September 2019
VPS Bunker Alerts
Veritas Petroleum Services (VPS) publish regular Bunker Alerts based entirely on fuel samples and have kindly permitted BIMCO’s Members to access this information.
The Bunker Alerts are not intended to be an evaluation of overall bunker quality in the port or area concerned, but usually highlight a specific parameter within the fuel which has raised a quality issue.
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