24/05/2023
Who does this notice affect?
All vessel owners, operators, masters, and shipping agents who represent international commercial vessels including cruise vessels, preparing for arrival in Australian territory, or reporting a voyage change.
What has changed?
The Maritime and Aircraft Reporting System (MARS) offline forms for commercial vessels have all been revised.
The Important information about this report, Declaration statement and the Privacy notice have been updated on all offline forms. When submitting information direct in MARS, the content on the ‘legal details’ tab has also been updated to align with these changes.
Additionally, the offline forms have had their data fields updated to correspond to the information existing in MARS. This is a further update to changes made to offline forms in February 2023.
- Pre-arrival Report (PAR)
- Country of registry
- Last international port of call
- First port of call
- Port agency
- Billing agency
- Crew agency
- Port of issue
- Non-First Point of Entry (NFP) Application
- Country of registry
- Last international port of call
- Port
- Agency
- Port of discharge
- Ballast Water Report
- Country of registry
- Agency
- BWMS
- Human Health Update
- Country of registry
- Agency
- Domestic Risk Assessment Application
- Country of registry
- Uptake location
- Discharge location
The following amendments have been made to the ballast water report to help reduce errors on submitted forms and improve ballast water verification processes.
- Question 2.2 on the Ballast Water Report offline form has been amended to "Does the vessel have a contingency measure listed in the Ballast Water Management Plan?"
- Additional help text has been added for when a vessel is using D1 as the contingency measure, to help select the correct management method for the relevant ballast tanks.
- An error prompt has been added to ensure that if a vessel has used contingency-empty refill or contingency-flow through as the management method for a ballast tank, they select the appropriate answer to questions 2.2 and 2.3.
What do you need to do?
Continue to complete vessel reporting directly into the MARS portal as usual. The changes will be automatic and there is nothing more you need to do other than answer each of the questions.
As an alternative to direct MARS access, vessel masters or officers can use offline forms where there is limited or unreliable internet connectivity to meet pre-arrival reporting obligations. The MARS offline forms have been updated on the MARS offline forms webpage, for use from 26 May 2023.
Vessel masters and shipping agents should make sure to download the revised offline forms to avoid errors and delays when submitting information from the offline forms into MARS.
Where can you find the forms?
The updated offline forms are available on the department’s webpage: MARS offline forms
Vessel reporting requirements and the Biosecurity Act 2015
Vessel masters and shipping agents are reminded:
- to read and understand the Biosecurity Status Document (BSD) directions and conditions and keep a copy of the current document on board the vessel for the duration of the voyage in Australia.
- that any changes in circumstances during the voyage in Australian waters, particularly changes to the human health of travellers, must be submitted via MARS or reported to the National Maritime Centre (NMC) as soon as practicable.
- that a failure to report accurately or comply with a requirement under the Biosecurity Act may result in penalties, including infringement notices, civil penalties, or criminal prosecutions.
Further information
Contact the department’s National Maritime Centre (NMC) by email or phone: 1300 004 605 (in Australia) or +61 8 8201 6185 (outside Australia).
For the latest information on ballast water management, view the Ballast water webpage.
View the Vessels webpages for information on Australia’s biosecurity reporting obligations and responsibilities.