Summer traffic heats up at Auckland Airport - Te Uru Rakau
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Working together to secure New Zealand’s borders from biosecurity threats Issue 25 | February 2019
Summer traffic heats up at Goodbye Goodboy
Auckland Airport
Officer Goodboy is retiring.
Voiced by popular comedian Te Radar, Goodboy
has been the face of our inflight biosecurity video
It’s been a busy summer so far for quarantine officers at Auckland Airport – the main entry point into New Zealand for international air for arriving international passengers since 2016.
travellers.
We’ve decided to update the video to make it more
The airport saw a record number of international arrivals in Even better news (from a biosecurity perspective) is our surveys closely aligned with the imagery used for the
December – up 3.4% to 529,443 passengers. show we are maintaining a high level of compliance, including Ko Tātou. This is us campaign, which is intended
On average, 17,079 travellers went through our 99.4% for passengers coming through the Green Lane system. to get more Kiwis involved with biosecurity.
biosecurity processes each day, up from 16,520 in 2017. This is particularly pleasing considering the increased passenger
Instead of a cartoon detector dog, the new video
The busiest day was 23 December, which saw nearly volumes and the threat posed by stink bugs.
will feature scenic shots showcasing some of what
19,500 arrivals. So far this season, officers based at the airport have intercepted we’re trying to protect in New Zealand. Filming is
While passenger arrivals are up, clearance times went down. The 13 stink bugs. There were only four finds last summer. due to start this month.
average processing time for low-risk passengers was six minutes We have been continuing our hard line approach on air passengers
and 51 seconds, compared with seven minutes and 26 seconds in that break the rules. In December, Auckland officers issued
December 2017 – an improvement of 8.5%. 1040 infringement notices, compared with 842 in November.
So that’s good news for those of you who keep a close eye on the
length of our biosecurity queues.
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Issue 25 February 2019 2
Cruise season halfway home Focus on communities
Also on the public awareness front, I’m looking at using
We’re about midway through the cruise season and its targeted approach to random surveying, similar to what we use
looking like it’s going to be a good one for biosecurity. some quarantine officers to work full time to promote
for measuring compliance among air passengers.)
biosecurity among local communities. This work will
At the time of writing, there have been 53 arrivals of support the existing awareness activities organised by our
accredited vessels. Of these, there have only been three communications staff.
instances we deem as failures, prompting us to intervene
One of the new positions will be a dedicated liaison officer
further – for example, impose additional gangway checks on
for local Chinese communities. The candidate is a native
subsequent port visits.
speaker and will act as main point of contact for these
The “failures” have involved use of uncertified stores, pest groups.
control shortcomings, and, in one case, an unacceptable
With Chinese passengers on the increase, they often appear
amount of risk good seizures from passengers. At this time
on the wrong side of our compliance stats. The evidence
last year, there had been seven failures from 31 accredited
suggests having someone who is very familiar with Chinese
vessels.
language and cultural practices will help turn this around.
With unaccredited vessels, there has only been one failure (too
Among other tasks, the liaison officer will work with Chinese
many seizures) this season – the same number as last season
airline crews and provide training to the interpreters we
at this point.
have at international airports.
Seizure rates are down, even with additional detector Just a reminder that accredited vessels undergo vetting
I have also approved a programme that will see more
dog screening and other gangway interventions to check to ensure their stores and pest management and public
officers talking about biosecurity at schools. The officers
passengers arriving at Auckland. awareness approaches meet strict biosecurity standards. This
will be supported by a new suite of presentation materials
The compliance rate for cruise passengers is currently means there is less biosecurity risk and, unless we find issues,
designed for school kids. What we’re ultimately aiming for is
0.6 per 1000 under the new surveying method we use for we don’t need to subject these vessels to the same degree of
that biosecurity becomes part of the education curriculum
this pathway, down from 0.9 last year. (We have moved from a scrutiny on the gangway as unaccredited ones.
at all levels.
Wannabe officers flock to sign up
We’ve been inundated with applicants for new quarantine
officer positions.
At last count, there were more than 1900 applications for 50
positions, which demonstrates just how keen New Zealanders
are to get involved with biosecurity.
Applications closed on 8 February, but we’ll be going out again
for another 50 officers in April and May. The 100 extra officers
this year will bring our border workforce to more than 600.
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Issue 25 February 2019 3
High compliance among
Church visits help spread the word yachters
As you may be aware, we have a trial underway that sees The church visits are complemented by radio ads, fliers The numbers for this year’s international yacht season also
Tongan biosecurity officers inspecting a number of food and other advertising. make good reading, showing high levels of compliance.
commodities carried by passengers before they leave for
Everything seems to be working well with the trial so far. All told, my officers cleared 324 small craft arriving in
New Zealand.
We audit the process, including checking 15 percent of Northland from various Pacific locations between 14 October
Part of the project involves public education in Tonga the arriving sealed packages. and 30 November. The previous season saw 292 arrivals.
itself. I currently have an officer working closely with
The new process has seen the clearance time for flights Officers subjected 175 vessels to additional inspection
community leaders and visiting churches (a gathering
from Tonga drop from about three hours to just under half (rummaging) following routine checks.
point for many locals) to spread the word about the
an hour. This season, we detected undeclared goods on 14 vessels,
benefits of the new process and what needs to be done to
maintain a high level of compliance. compared with 25 last year. None of the undeclared seizures
were found to be intentionally concealed.
Officers also discovered biofouling on two vessels following
questioning of the masters and confirmation using a newly
adapted underwater camera. The vessels were hauled out
of the water (at the owners’ cost) and decontaminated at an
approved facility.
My officers put in a lot of work off-shore last year to educate
the international yachting community about our biosecurity
work. The value of this is reflected in the high level of
compliance.
Of interest, four cats, arriving on three vessels, had to be
bonded and sent to approved quarantine facilities.
The season also saw a record 28 yachts inspected and cleared
in a single day at Opua – a tremendous effort by the officers
on the ground.
Biosecurity presentation to Tongan church-goers.
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Issue 25 February 2019 4
The case for more regs
At the recent Biosecurity Forum I presented a case for more biosecurity regulations. I have since received positive feedback from many of you who attended the event.
For those of you who missed it, here’s a quick summary of my address. Please be aware, my talk was intended to stimulate debate and did not necessarily represent my own position, and that of
Biosecurity NZ.
A serious business
Biosecurity is a serious business for New Zealand. The amount of
money required to manage incursions is testimony to that.
We are facing rising threat levels with skyrocketing volumes of
arriving passengers and goods and the ever-changing nature of
risk.
Biosecurity New Zealanbd has responded by bolstering its border
defences. In 2013, we had 330 quarantine officers. Following our
latest recruitment drive, we will soon have nearly 600.
We are investing in new technology. The introduction of the latest
x-ray technology for screening baggage at Auckland Airport is a
case in point. We have a new intelligence team in place to help from essentially using their visit to import cheap food.
identify where we need to focus our resources. We have spent a
Likewise, express freight items ordered from the internet are going
fortune on public awareness about our biosecurity rules.
through the roof. We’ve got the situation where we need 20-30
I question whether the time has come that simply increasing additional officers to stay ahead of the game.
everything is not enough, and that we make those who are
We need to know what is inside these parcels, particularly when
importing risk items more responsible for their actions.
it comes to things like seed packets. The best way of getting this
This means more regulation.
information are rules that requires the sender and on-line supplier
to provide it. Ultimately, we want structured, legally binding deals
More requirements across all pathways
in place.
I believe there could be more regulatory requirements across all
the pathways that biosecurity risk goods enter New Zealand. There are too many participants in the cargo space. Today, we
have 4,500 transitional facilities that can devan a container.
For example, Australia has made it compulsory to play an inflight
There are some 12,000 people registered to open containers. This
biosecurity video to arriving air passengers. This is not the case
situation has the potential to increase biosecurity risk. This is why
in New Zealand, which means we may be missing out on an
we have been introducing regulations for some time to reduce
opportunity to educate travellers about our rules.
these numbers and get a higher level of performance.
Staying with the passenger pathway, I am constantly amazed
We currently have a situation in which a decision to follow a
by the amount of food carried by travellers that is available in
directive to an importer to have cargo de-vanned at a transitional
any New Zealand-based supermarket. My officers need to check
facility depends on the honesty of the truck driver. We have been
all these items. This is the main reason there are queues at the
following drivers recently and have found they don’t always take
biosecurity lanes. I believe we need more rules to stop travellers
continued on next page...
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Issue 25 February 2019 5
continued from previous page...
containers to where they are supposed to go, but choose to go
RTT x-ray goes live
directly to the client. We need to ensure there is no ambiguity Our new x-ray screening technology is now operating for real at Auckland Airport.
about the need to follow our directives. Live trials started on 23 January. At this stage, we are concern. The technology will also screen baggage faster than
We could also look at customs agents. I respect this is a very randomly selecting baggage from arriving passengers to go the current units.
difficult job. Importing goods is not a simple process. Clear through the new machine. The RTT x-ray unit will eventually be located “back of house”.
regulations shaping how this role works would benefit all As part of the trials, officers are placing risk items in baggage This will see individual bags scanned before passengers
parties. provided by travellers. The aim is to develop an algorithm that pick them up at baggage carousels – similar to how security
These are only a few examples of areas where tighter will allow the machine to automatically detect and identify screening works at many international airports.
restrictions could improve biosecurity. items of interest. Over time, the new system will identity items and baggage
Keen readers of The Border Space will know we unveiled of interest before passengers approach the biosecurity lanes.
Good regulation works the new real time tomography (RTT) unit late last year. The This will result in faster and more accurate processing of
In my opinion, industry wants to have the commercial technology will provide clear three-dimensional images of passengers.
certainty that comes with good regulations. Importers and baggage, making it easier to zoom in on items of biosecurity
shipping lines that have faced disruption following stink
bug detections would love anything that takes out some of
the guess work about bringing cargo to New Zealand. My
understanding is it costs shipping lines nearly $3 million each
time we direct a vehicle carrier to leave New Zealand waters.
Good regulation works. We have seen this with the
introduction of the craft risk management standard for
biofouling last May. The standard sets out very clear
requirements to ensure we don’t get dirty vessels soiling our
waters. Even though we have turned a number of vessels away
from New Zealand, our relationship with industry remains
positive.
The RTT in action at Auckland Airport.
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Issue 25 February 2019 6
Stink bug onslaught continues Thinking about next season
We’re starting to firm up our planning for what we do
We’re continuing to find record numbers of stink bugs at the border, particularly in the cargo pathway. to combat the stink bug threat in the coming season.
I won’t get into the figures, as they’re most likely to be out-of-date have the remaining cargo treated off-shore. Upon returning For one, we are taking a more hands-on role to
by the time you read this, except to say there have been nearly to New Zealand, the vessels have been subjected to intensive educate and audit manufacturers, treatment providers
double the amount of live finds compared with 2017/18. inspection and controlled discharge involving detector dogs and and exporters to ensure they are doing what they must
heat treatment to make sure the treatment has worked. to keep stink bugs out of New Zealand.
It is good to report that officers and transitional facility staff
are intercepting high numbers of dead stink bugs in cargo from All of these vessels had problems relating to cargo from Europe. If we find a facility or manufacturer is not up
treated cargo (both off- and on-shore), reinforcing the value of this It is good to see that the recent off-shore treatment requirements to scratch, any approvals may be revoked and
approach. There have been a few notable exceptions, as I explain for Japan appear to be working well. We have not needed to New Zealand will not accept cargo from that provider
below. turnaround any vessels with cargo originating from these countries. until the problem has been fixed.
An example of the system working involved two containerised We’ve taken a closer look at the causes of contamination. One of We’ve already had to come down hard on some
tractors that landed from Italy for on-arrival treatment at the reasons appears to be the practice of loading dirty cargo on the treatment providers in Italy after recent stink bug
a transitional facility. Officers recovered 499 dead brown same decks as treated cargo heading to New Zealand. The fact is detections in cargo. At the time of writing, the
marmorated stink bugs, along with nearly 100 other bugs. many countries do not have the same treatment requirements as facilities have just been given the okay to reopen
we do, which can lead to cross contamination when the cargo is following suspension and subsequent auditing. We
We also had a big detection at one of the approved systems in
mixed. We have discussed this issue with shipping lines. will not accept any cargo treated from these facilities
Japan that cater for shipments of used vehicles (see previous issue
prior to the reinstatement date.
of The Border Space). Our rules require all used vehicles from Another factor has been the performance of some treatment
Japan to be heated prior to shipment by an approved system. providers in Europe. We recently suspended three third-party A lot of these checks will be carried out by biosecurity
The team at the Kobe-based facility initially detected four bugs in providers in Italy after detecting contaminated cargo coming from officers based in Europe next season. These officers
a vehicle. A further 54 these facilities. will also undertake pre-clearance work, similar to the
were collected following off-shore inspections we already do with grapes from
We have reminded shipping lines that they currently have the
heat treatment. All were the United States.
option of treating containerised vehicles and machinery (as
confirmed as brown opposed to unenclosed “break-bulk” cargo) in New Zealand. This We will also be working closely with Australian
marmorated stink bug. poses some challenges, as New Zealand doesn’t have a lot of heat biosecurity authorities to synchronise our stink bug
So far this season we treatment capacity and providers are very busy at this time of efforts. Some of my regulatory colleagues are part of
have placed discharge year. This means there a joint working group with officials from Australia’s
restrictions on four can be a long wait for Department of Agriculture and Water Resources to
arriving vehicle ships goods to be treated. draw up an action list.
as a result of stink bug Ultimately, this a It is very possible we
contamination. Only one commercial decision for will see an
was completely turned the shippers. extension to the
around. The others list of countries that have
were permitted partial requirements to treat cargo
Dead stink bugs
discharge and required to before it arrives in
recovered from two
tractors from Italy New Zealand.
Vehicle undergoing spraying with insecticide following heat
following fumigation.
treatment in Kobe facility.
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Issue 25 February 2019 7
Fresh look at Transitional Facilities
Our minister has asked us to take a fresh look at transitional facilities (TFs) and related cargo clearance processes following recent stink bug detections.
The move follows two separate detections of single bugs near it would be unreasonable to ask lower-risk facilities to meet
facilities in Tauranga and Auckland this season. No further this deadline when things are up in the air about what will
bugs have been found following intensive trapping and happen with the upcoming review.
detector dog surveillance.
You will hear about what comes out of the review in later Infringements
issues of The Border Space. We are finalising the details for how recently introduced
infringement notices will work for transitional facilities (See
In the meantime, my officers are continuing to ensure TFs August issue of The Border Space). Expected to be introduced
are properly managed. Our mantra is that operating a TF is a in March, the fines are proposed to be $400 for individuals
privilege, not a right. and $800 for companies for each offence.
Over the last three years, we have introduced a range of The aim of these infringements is to send a strong message
measures that have resulted in a 20 percent reduction in about the critical nature of compliance. Given this, we do not
TF numbers. We are continuing to make changes to ensure plan to issue fines when operators identify and report non-
remaining TFs are up to scratch. Below is a quick update of compliance to MPI and immediately take preventative actions.
where we’re at with some recent initiatives. Please bear in
mind I am not predetermining the outcome of the review. Container reporting
There may well be changes to these initiatives as a result of TFs will soon be required to report all container checks to
the review. Biosecurity NZ. This has always been our intention, but, due
to technology issues, we currently limit reporting to instances
Container limit when contamination is detected.
I have mentioned before that we are considering deregistering
TFs that don’t receive a sufficient amount of containers each Among other things, the move will give us a full picture of TF
year. We may have to go out for consultation before any changes activity, which will assist with tracking container movements.
are made, as the move would affect 25 percent of all TFs. For example, we will be able to identify containers that have
gone to a different TF from the one we instructed.
Security
We are continuing to crack down on TF security. This will give Internal audits
biosecurity officials increased confidence that uncleared risk From 2019, all TF operators now need to complete and
goods (including containers) at a TF are fully secure at all submit their annual internal audit online rather than provide
times from unauthorised entry by unapproved persons. The a paper version. Facilities that don’t provide an internal audit
new measures will also prevent undetected contaminants or by 4 March 2019 will be sent a letter of intent to suspend and
pests from escaping. The move includes revoking approval for will be given 10 days to comply.
high-risk facilities that don’t meet the new strict requirements. Transitional facilities are operated by industry with oversight
We were planning to make the new security requirements by Biosecurity NZ. They provide a secure place to unload,
compulsory for all TFs by 1 September. We have since decided inspect and treat imported cargo.
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Issue 25 February 2019 8
From the frontline
A selection of interesting interceptions and other border activity...
Fruit fine support traveller on her way to a major growing area. We decided the violation was significant enough to warrant
A recent front page story in the NZ Herald raised a lot of It was heartening to see the huge surge of support for prosecution rather than a $400 infringement notice.
eyebrows around my colleagues. It also highlighted the high our actions. When I last looked, there were nearly 900 At an appearance in the Christchurch District Court on
level of public support for taking a hard line on travellers favourable comments on the NZ Herald Facebook page. 1 February, the judge agreed with us, despite Guedes’
who don’t follow our biosecurity rules. lawyer arguing a conviction would affect his future
It concerned an infringement notice we issued to an elderly
Banana fine stands employment prospects. He has since resigned from Jetstar.
Another passenger felt hard done by after receiving a $400
woman for failing to declare some nectarines at Wellington
fine for failing to declare a banana. Bile alert
in late January. The woman was apparently on her way from
The passenger, Fei Liu, claimed he was too sick to fill in his Officers are on high alert for
Australia for her annual Hawke’s Bay holiday.
arrival card properly when he arrived from Taiwan. products containing bear
According to the story, the officers involved didn’t show any bile following an increase
leniency and her son was hopping mad about it, calling the The Manukau Justice of the Peace involved with the in seizures at international
fine “outrageous”. This is despite the fact the nectarines defended hearing in late January thought otherwise. The airports.
court ruled Mr Liu was not sufficiently impaired at the time
could have contained fruit fly and the woman was a regular The bile is used in various
and that he had to pay the fine, along with $30 court costs.
Asian medicines. Officers are
Conviction for lying taking a closer look at any
A Jetstar flight attendant has copped a $1000 fine for lying vials, eye drops that contain
to biosecurity officers at Christchurch Airport. the product, which violates
international rules intended
When questioned after landing last April, Dayvson Guedes Bear bile eye drops seized at
to protect endangered
initially declared he had some cereal and crackers. He then Auckland Airport.
species.
altered his arrival card to include salad when directed to the
x-ray screening line. Cured pig meat changes
As he approached the machine, a detector dog indicated There are new biosecurity restrictions on cured meat
he was carrying fresh food. Officers found four Jetstar containing pork.
salads, which ironically had been prepared and packed in Travellers are now forbidden (since December) to bring in
Christchurch before travelling to Melbourne and back. things like salami and prosciutto. This is due to the threat
Guedes tried to say he had written “salads” on his arrival of African swine fever, which is spreading around the world.
card before presenting it to officers. He hadn’t. This was Most recently, Australia biosecurity authorities detected the
confirmed by security camera footage. virus in pork products seized at the border.
continued on next page....
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Issue 25 February 2019 9
From the frontline continued
The clearance restriction applies to private consignments (1kg Well-dressed bandicoot What they found wasn’t quite what they expected…. It was not
or less) from countries affected with swine fever. This dress-wearing marsupial is a bandicoot and no, it wasn’t a blanket used by a dog, but a blanket with a dog’s picture on
In reality, there are only three countries where the restrictions trying to sneak into the country in disguise. it.
don’t apply – Finland, Australia and Sweden.
Arriving from
The rules for commercial consignments of cured meat are Live scorpion in a tent
Australia, the
unchanged. This live Argentinian scorpion arrived in New Zealand in a tent
passenger who
in December.
declared the
Navy confined to quarters stuffed marsupial Officers detected the venomous
A nautical French cat called Navy attracted media headlines in December said it hitcher during a search after
when it arrived in Dunedin late last year. was road kill that had the passenger declared the
been tidied up and tent upon arriving from Buenos
sold in a shop. Aires at Auckland Airport.
As bandicoots are
listed as endangered
species, we referred
the item to the
Department of
Conservation after Pigeon causes flap
ordering it to be I hear it took a valiant effort by one of my officers to capture
treated. this pigeon after it stowed away in an air container of chilled
fish.
False alarm
Animal blankets pose The container arrived
biosecurity risk in that they at Auckland Airport
can contain hair, blood and in a flight from Fiji in
faeces, as well as mites, ticks January.
and fleas. Sadly, it had to be
Navy sailed into New Zealand after his yacht Alizes II required euthanised by one of
So Wellington officers
emergency repairs. Its French owner was attempting a solo our vets.
thoroughly searched some
round-the-world voyage.
lost baggage when the owner
Officers initially bonded the moggy in a cage aboard the yacht, reported it would be arriving
but it had to be moved to secure premises when the vessel with a dog blanket.
went to dry-dock for repairs.
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Issue 25 February 2019 10
Border activity for December/January
Dec-18 Dec-17 Jan-19 Jan-18
Passenger
Total Arrivals 712,614 692,088 734,322 712,278
NZ/Australia 357,576 350,240 384,824 374,247
Rest of World 353,289 341,848 348,795 338,031
Risk Items Seized 11,735 11,985 12,015 12,152
Risk Items Treated or Destroyed 11,584 11,698 11,854 11,849
Infringement Notices 1,324 1,412 1,293 1,294
Mail
Mail Items Screened 4,799,820 3,860,294 3,112,425 2,298,004
Mail Items Requiring Further
3,736 3,008 3,530 2,785
Inspection
Risk Mail Items Treated/
991 1,020 1,531 1,048
Destroyed
Sea Containers
Sea Container Arrivals 65,711 65,908 64,823 65,903
Sea Containers Inspected 1,941 2,315 1,701 2,011
Cargo
Cargo Lines of Interest to MPI 18,129 18,258 17,051 16,767
Cargo Lines Inspected 6,936 7,054 6,235 6,676
Cargo Lines Treated, Reshipped
2,472 2,421 2,218 2,173
or Destroyed
Steve Gilbert
Director Border Clearance
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