Marine Covid?? Bio hazards causing problems r

[les37b]

We have a Viking booking on the Orion sailing from Bali to Bangkok in March 2024. A long way off for sure.

 

My wife just sent a link to issues the ship is having in Australia at the moment, being refused entry with guests stranded for 9 days so far. Currently near Melbourne and due to disembark in Sydney on the 5th Jan. The problem is related to micro bio issues, presumably on the hull? 

 

Apparently Regent has a similar issue in Auckland.

 

New Zealand and Oz have a history of fiercely protecting its boarders and fair play to them…. But this does raise concerns it’s maybe the tip of an iceberg? Hopefully it’s just 2 isolated incidences..

 

I wonder how easy this is going to be to get a clean bill of health? It’s certainly worrying.

 

 

 

 

[crusinbanjo]

Wow, here is a link to an article.   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-64138743
 

I feel bad for those on board,  I think they are going over the top down under!

[RetiredandTravel]

Regent thread on the situation

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2903442-anyone-currently-on-explorer/#comment-64553254

 

[Silver Spectre]

Sea snails and biofoul apparently, there is a thread on the Viking boards covering this. At least no one has died so far on the Orion unlike the Polaris!

[les37b]

18 minutes ago, crusinbanjo said:

Wow, here is a link to an article.   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-64138743
 

I feel bad for those on board,  I think they are going over the top down under!

Aus and NZ have always been fierce about protecting its borders, but I do wonder if CL May actually reconsider their options going forward.

 

unconfirmed reports that an Azamara ship has also been refused dntry.

 

Certainly worrying.

[Silver Spectre]

The WC on the Shadow is due in Milford Sound in 2 weeks, I hope it’s nice and clean 🧽 

[RetiredandTravel]

I wonder if the new year has rung in stricter policies on the issue in New Zealand.

 

 

[les37b]

26 minutes ago, Silver Spectre said:

The WC on the Shadow is due in Milford Sound in 2 weeks, I hope it’s nice and clean 🧽 

From my limited understanding Of this newly found phenomenon, a dry dock would be needed to do the necessary deep clean to eliminate. (At least that’s what one site suggests.) I suspect there will be more info on the causes coming soon. How widespread it is, is a different matter.

 

Hopefully it’s rare. My gut feeling is it won’t be and this problem won’t be going away for sometime. Hopefully I’m wrong.

[Daveywavey70]

3 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

I wonder if the new year has rung in stricter policies on the issue in New Zealand.

 

 

They recently brought in new regulations which are are in first phase trial. Hopefully the situation will settle down.

[MrsWaldo]

The ports they refused entry to in Aus have very active, profitable and clean aquaculture.  The area around Adelaide has an huge Oyster industry.  In the last 12 months there have been a number of issues with the oyster industry in other states after diseases were introduced into the waterways.

 

We  (Us and NZ) have always been very heavy on biosecurity, you just need to watch one of those airport shows on TV.  

 

This came into place last year for a while

https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/news-and-updates/foot-and-mouth-disease-indonesia

 

Aus rules came in in June 22.  This is the first  cruise ship in our waters that was refused.  There was a very detailed study that shows 90% of our marine pests had arrived on international ship hulls.

[RetiredandTravel]

https://maritime-executive.com/article/new-zealand-australia-delay-cruise-ship-over-biofouling

[myden]

8 hours ago, les37b said:

Aus and NZ have always been fierce about protecting its borders, but I do wonder if CL May actually reconsider their options going forward.

 

unconfirmed reports that an Azamara ship has also been refused dntry.

 

Certainly worrying.

Yes the Azamara Quest sailing 4th January has had Eden and Milford Sound cancelled for hull cleaning. It will also arrive later than scheduled into Dunedin to accommodate this. Hope they get the job done quickly as the rest of it’s ports of call are in NZ.

[turtlemichael]

An over-reaction? Not in my view. Were shipping companies forewarned? Probably but we don't yet know for certain. As someone who will be on the World Cruise in a few days, the only option is to role with the punches. If Silver Shadow had to undergo a clean and scrape, it wouldn't be the first time that ports had been missed. Of course, this is proportionately more significant for a segment cruiser than someone there for 139 days. The biosecurity of Australia and New Zealand, and the industries that operate in a pristine environment, is much more important to these two countries.

[sea bright]

Has the Muse had similar problems? It is sailing an Australia to NZ itinerary now. 

[Stumblefoot]

2 hours ago, sea bright said:

Has the Muse had similar problems? It is sailing an Australia to NZ itinerary now. 

No.  Lots of other nuisances on board the Muse since before Christmas, but nothing related to Biofoul.

[les37b]

5 minutes ago, Stumblefoot said:

No.  Lots of other nuisances on board the Muse since before Christmas, but nothing related to Biofoul.

Not frozen waffles I hope? 😅

 

Hopefully the 3 1/2 months before boarding is enough to sort the nuisances out! 

[Stumblefoot]

2 minutes ago, les37b said:

Not frozen waffles I hope?

Nope, thankfully. 😆

[sea bright]

We're scheduled to board in Sydney in February- hope everything will be sorted out by then!

[rojaan19]

This is not a new requirement  -  these rules came in 2018 !  

 

"After May 2018, all vessels must arrive in New Zealand with a. “clean hull”. The requirements for a clean hull vary according to a vessel's itinerary."

New Zealand is known for its unique nature and marine environments and has strict biosecurity requirements for arriving vessels and will soon become the first country in the world to introduce a nationwide standard for biofouling. New Zealand’s new biofouling requirements becomes mandatory as of 15 May 2018 and from this date, vessel operators must demonstrate that they have managed biofouling on their vessels well before arriving in New Zealand waters.

 

There have been several  newspaper articles  here in Australia  about this in the last month or two   as several  ships have come to  the port of Adelaide to  get the hull  cleaned  after refused entry to   NZ.

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 minutes ago, rojaan19 said:

This is not a new requirement  -  these rules came in 2018 !

But the obviously weren't enforced in 2018 and then, you know, Covid.

[rojaan19]

On 1/3/2023 at 8:15 AM, turtlemichael said:

An over-reaction? Not in my view. Were shipping companies forewarned? Probably but we don't yet know for certain. As someone who will be on the World Cruise in a few days, the only option is to role with the punches. If Silver Shadow had to undergo a clean and scrape, it wouldn't be the first time that ports had been missed. Of course, this is proportionately more significant for a segment cruiser than someone there for 139 days. The biosecurity of Australia and New Zealand, and the industries that operate in a pristine environment, is much more important to these two countries.

These NZ rules came in 2018.  

 

Biosecurity New Zealand environmental health manager Paul Hallett =

"The current biofouling standards were introduced in 2018, and Biosecurity New Zealand undertakes significant stakeholder engagement to help vessel operators comply with bio-fouling requirements," he said. "As a result, we have seen an increase in proactive management of vessel hulls by operators and in awareness of our bio-fouling rules.

"For context, a total of 6121 international vessels arrived in New Zealand from January 1, 2020, to September 2022. Of these, 6 per cent (377) were issued a notice of direction to address bio-fouling issues."