Following a review of biosecurity risks associated with Port of Tauranga and Rotorua Airport last year, KVH identified initial concerns with incoming cruise ships and raised these with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).

KVH has been advocating for improvements that further minimise biosecurity risks through the cruise ship pathway. These include:

• Improved understanding of the risks. By buiding a view of what MPI is intercepting when they search passengers and by measuring slippage.
• Increased use of detector dogs on this pathway. To intercept risk items and act as a ‘ deterrant’.
• Fruit and vegetables to meet NZ Import Requirements. This is a long-term strategy and what KVH believe is key to substantively eliminate risk. If implemented, this will mean all cruise ships arriving into New Zealand will only be able to load fruit that meets New Zealand’s Import Health Standard for fresh produce—the same standards applied to imported fruit bought in New Zealand supermarkets.

KVH acknowledges that some key improvements have been made by MPI over the last 12 months to tighten biosecuirty through this pathway.

MPI are now using dogs for all first port of arrivals and many second ports of arrival. Detector dogs have been used on 150 cruise ship visits resulting in the interception of 500 biosecurity risk items, of which 76 percent were fresh produce.

The cruise ship industry has more than doubled in size over the last five years (Cruise New Zealand). These cruise ships enter New Zealand waters from Australia or the Pacific Islands, regions harbouring high-risk pests and diseases including fruit flies, which are the greatest biosecurity threat to New Zealand’s horticultural industries.

KVH will continue to proactively strive for even better border intervention to reduce risk to the kiwifruit industry.

For more information about the cruise ship risk pathway, click here to view the fourth profile document in KVH’s ‘Profile Series: Border Interventions on Import Pathways’.