In a first time incident, the Ministry of Primary Industries has sent an Indonesian ship packing from Tauranga because of its dirty hull.
What happened?
The DL Marigold containing a load of palm kernel for feeding to dairy cows was inspected by divers on the weekend.
According to an MPI statement, they discovered “dense fouling of barnacles and tubeworms on the bulk carrier’s hull and other underwater surfaces”.
“The longer the vessel stayed in New Zealand, the greater chance there was for unwanted marine species to spawn or break away from the ship. So we had to act quickly,” Steve Gilbert, MPI’s border clearance director said.
The DL Marigold arrived in Tauranga from Indonesia on 4 March. It had been due to stay in New Zealand waters for nine days.
MPI understands the vessel will go to Fiji for cleaning. It then plans to return to New Zealand to finish discharging a shipment of palm kernel expeller.
Biosecurity risk:
Gilbert said it was the first time MPI had ordered an international vessel to leave a New Zealand port for bio fouling reasons.
New rules will require all international vessels to arrive in New Zealand with a clean hull from May 2018.
During the interim period, MPI can take action in cases of severe biofouling.
The latest incident involving a shipment of palm kernel follows the expulsion of the MV Molat last year, which was stopped from unloading 20,000 tonnes of palm kernel at Tauranga Port because it was considered a biosecurity risk.
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Source: Stuff
