Passengers and cruise industry welcome new initiatives

The Statendam on a visit to Wellington
last month.
Photo: Ross Farnell

Initial trials of new MAF Biosecurity New Zealand (MAFBNZ) passenger clearance initiatives to meet the growing demands of the current cruise vessel season have been most encouraging. As well as improving biosecurity management of this pathway, they have been well received by the cruise industry, cruise vessel passengers and New Zealand Customs. The initiatives are timely because they complement MAFBNZ's new vessel clearance procedures.

Incredibly, the numbers of cruise vessels and passengers visiting New Zealand have more than doubled from last season (Table 1).

With 17 million passengers cruising in 2006 worldwide, the New Zealand/Australia/South Pacific region handles only about 1 percent of the world's total cruise passengers.

Larger cruise vessels are being deployed in New Zealand. Currently, the largest carries 2,750 passengers. In two years' time we can expect to see vessels carrying 3,300 passengers.

Presently being built, and due for launch in 2009, is the 360-metre Genesis, capacity 6,400 passengers and displacing 220,000 tons.*

The combination of a significant increase in the number and size of cruise vessels presents many challenges. As a result, MAFBNZ has had to review the way it inspects and clears cruise vessels and en route passengers with biosecurity risk goods for entry into New Zealand.

Historically, MAF Quarantine Inspectors have met vessels in overseas ports and then processed passengers at sea en route to New Zealand (pre-cleared). Processing passengers on arrival can cause delays and inconvenience to all parties: MAFBNZ, Customs, port companies, tour operators and passengers.

The issue for MAFBNZ was to find sufficient numbers of Quarantine Inspectors to handle the increased volumes in this season's cruise vessel arrivals (see Table 1).

New passenger clearance system

A project team was formed, comprising Sue Gould (Team Manager Offshore) and Mike Tana (Adviser Import Standards Group). Both had operational experience at the border through MAF Quarantine Service (now part of MAFBNZ). They worked with Ross Farnell (Project Manager) to find new ways to address the issue. Ross, who comes with a wealth of shipping experience as a Quarantine Inspector in Wellington, brought some very clever and innovative ideas.

The team was able to work quickly and collaboratively to develop a system in consultation with stakeholders that addressed this season's passenger clearance challenges.

The new system is described below.

1. New biosecurity declaration card

A new card was designed to work in conjunction with the current New Zealand Passenger Arrival Card by asking the passengers to write their names and cabin numbers, along with the items they had declared, in section 3 of the arrival card.

This allows risk screening to be carried out while the passenger is waiting to be processed by New Zealand Customs.

Using this new card, passengers are sorted into risk and non-risk, with the non-risk passengers then able to proceed with no further MAFBNZ intervention.

The inspector/s can then concentrate on passengers with risk items. If a declared risk item needs further action, the declaration card is kept and the passenger proceeds to Customs for immigration. The inspection of the risk item/s is organised by sending an appointment (Letter of Inspection) to the passenger. The item/s are presented to the inspector at a prearranged time, inspected and processed. The declaration card is now the release document and provides a more accurate way of recording what items have been cleared or held.

Requiring passengers to provide clearer details of the risk items they are declaring reduces the amount of time needed to process them. This has allowed MAFBNZ to reallocate staff to cover the increased number of cruise vessels for the 2007/08 season.

2. New inspection procedures for stores

Coming into line with the new MAFBNZ requirements for vessels, greater emphasis has been placed on accessing the fresh and frozen stores on board vessels. These are inspected prior to arrival in New Zealand. This allows less intervention by MAFBNZ when assessing the risk of passengers taking prohibited food items ashore for day trips into New Zealand.

3. New communication materials

New communication materials with MAFBNZ branding have been designed to better inform passengers and crew of the key risk items to not bring ashore.

The messages are on:

• the back of the new biosecurity declaration cards
• posters displayed on board
• banners at the top of the gangway
• amnesty bins in the biosecurity control area (wharf, terminal).

Trial of system

The Statendam, one of the first cruise vessels for New Zealand's 2007/08 season, was selected for the first trial. It is a regular caller to New Zealand ports, cruising between Australia and New Zealand and carrying about 2,000 crew and passengers originating from all parts the world.

Her first voyage of the season to New Zealand departed from Fiji with experienced Quarantine Inspectors Gary Higgins and Russell Killgour on board. Both were keen to test the new system.

Gary and Russell found the new system worked well, with the colourful logo on the back of the declaration cards, banners and posters an effective reminder to passengers about what they must declare. They believed that the card should be implemented on all cruise vessels arriving to New Zealand.

"I really feel we are getting somewhere in making the public more aware of biosecurity," Gary Higgins said. "It's the best thing since sliced bread. Instead of just another series of boxes to tick, the passengers actually have to think about what they are declaring."

The cards allow passengers to declare a larger number of items than declared on previous voyages. The large number of risk items presented by the passengers for inspection showed the success of the new system.

The cruise vessel and New Zealand Customs staff were also impressed with the new cards, which made their jobs a lot easier.

Although there was no evidence of either partridge or pear tree, items seized during processing included an eclectic collection:

• one bag of raw macadamia nuts
• two wooden items with borer
• three frangipani cuttings ex Hawaii
• Animal manure on shoes
• four ti plant cuttings ex Hawaii
• seven large pieces of staghorn coral
• eight flower leis
• nine jars of honey
• 12 green pandanus palm items.

The new system will continue to be trialled over this current cruise season. Consultation involving industry, MAFBNZ and other government agencies will lead to revised processes which can be utilised by MAFBNZ's Cargo and Passenger Directorates to prepare for future seasons.

Importance to MAF, the cruise industry and New Zealand

The cruise industry in New Zealand generated $42 million in direct spending in the 1996/97 season. During the past decade, this figure has grown more than five-fold to $236 million (2006/07 season) and forecasts are for $378 million for the 2007/08 season*.

The cruise industry mantra is: You're either a cruise-friendly country, or you're not.

There are a number of integral parts to being 'cruise friendly', including border processing of cruise vessels, airports, hotels, port/berth, coaches, attractions, visitor experience, value propositions, weather, regional itinerary opportunities and more. Failure in any of these areas can defeat a country's efforts to attract cruise visitors.

Bearing that in mind, strategic planning embracing a new and innovative system enables MAFBNZ to keep pace with the increasing demand of New Zealand's international cruise industry as well as improving its biosecurity practices.

• * Facts and figures supplied by Cruise New Zealand.

Acknowledgements:

• Cruise New Zealand
• McKay Shipping Ltd
• New Zealand Customs
• MAFBNZ Communications

Table 1: Increase in cruise vessel volumes 2006/07 - 2007/08

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Page last updated: 30 April 2008