Commercial ships and cruise liners must advise a number of New Zealand border agencies in advance of their arrival into New Zealand.
The New Zealand Border Agencies’ Advance Notice of Arrival Form is required to be completed by commercial ships and cruise liners arriving in New Zealand from an overseas port. This form, the follow up No Change of Health Status Report’, and the Maritime Declaration of Health must be received in order for a ship to be granted quarantine clearance (pratique).
There is detailed information about the entry requirements on the New Zealand Customs Service website.
Advance Notice of Arrival Form
The Advance Notice of Arrival Form contains information about the ship, such as:
- Voyage details
- Information about crew, passengers, and cargo
- Health protection and quarantine information
- Biosecurity quarantine information
- Maritime security information
- The ship’s agent’s detail
- A range of supporting documents
All arriving commercial ships and cruise liners must submit the form at least 48 hours before arrival in New Zealand waters to the appropriate government agencies.
The Advance Notice of Arrival Form is to be sent by the ship’s master or their agent to border agencies and a Medical Officer of Health or Health Protection Officer at the port of arrival or nearest public health unit. The information in this form is used in the assessment about issuing Pratique.
Changes to Pratique
An exemption has been created that allows public health units to grant pratique while there is COVID-19 on board a vessel. This exemption applies to all vessels and is limited to cases of COVID-19. The exemption does not apply in respect to other quarantinable infectious diseases.
If the health risks change after arrival (e.g., a large outbreak occurs on board, or a new variant is suspected on board) the government and agencies have the power to require information, direct vessels and people, and manage the public health risk under the Health Act 1956.
Health information covered by the form
The completed Advance Notice of Arrival Form must include the following health-related information:
- The last port of call and the date of departure from that port
- Health conditions on board, including details of:
- Any death other than by accident during the voyage
- Details of any symptoms of infectious diseases among crew or passengers during the voyage
- Illness during the voyage where a person had a temperature, rash, glandular swelling, or jaundice persisting for more than 24 hours
- Any diarrhoea or vomiting (apart from that associated with sea sickness)
- Ship Sanitation/Ship Sanitation Exemption Certificate issue date and port of issue.
Maritime Declaration of Health
The Ministry of Health requires the Maritime Declaration of Health to be completed and submitted 12-24 hours before arrival at the same time as the No Change of Health Status Report.
No change of status report
The ship’s Master must provide a ‘no change of health status’ confirmation 12-24 hours before arrival (Health (Quarantine) Regulations 1983 Regulation 10). The confirmation must be submitted to health officers at the ship’s port of arrival. The time of “arrival” is considered to be when a ship reaches the pilot station or reaches an anchorage point in the vicinity of the pilot station. The pilot station is the point at the harbour where the ship is considered to have entered the harbour and be under pilot instruction, i.e., where the pilot will board the ship.
The current 'No Change of Health Status Report for Health Pratique' form, which includes questions relating to COVID-19, can be found on the COVID-19: Maritime sector page.
The Ministry of Health requires the Maritime Declaration of Health to be completed and submitted 12-24 hours before arrival at the same time as the No Change of Health Status.
Trade single window
The Trade Single Window is an electronic channel for the cargo and excise industries to submit information to and receive responses from border agencies (New Zealand Customs Service, Ministry for Primary industries, Maritime New Zealand, and the Ministry of Health). It allows border agencies to use shared information to process craft and cargo data efficiently. Get more information on the Custom’s website.
To register for Trade Single Window go to tsw.govt.nz.