Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is an Australian

statutory authority A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or state, sometimes by being empowered or delegated to set rules (for example reg ...

responsible for the regulation and safety oversight of Australia's shipping fleet and management of Australia's international maritime obligations. The authority has jurisdiction over Australia's

exclusive economic zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

which covers an area of . AMSA maintains Australia's shipping registries: the generalAMSA
Register a vessel
/ref> and the international shipping registers.AMSA
Australian international shipping register
/ref> AMSA was established in 1990 under the ''Australian Maritime Safety Authority Act 1990'' and governed by the ''Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997''. As at 2024, AMSA is a statutory authority within the

Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts (DITRDCSA), previously Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (DITRDCA) is a department ...

. Directors are appointed by the minister. The international treaties which AMSA administers include the ''Navigation Act 2012'' and the ''Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Act 1983''. Organised sea rescue in Australia was well established during the Second World War. Precursor international arrangements also included usage of a range of warning and communication systems. AMSA is funded largely through levies on the

shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

industry. In the 2010-2011 financial year, AMSA recorded expenses of just over $146 million, with revenue at just under $159 million, creating a surplus of more than $10 million.

Functions

Marine safety activities of AMSA include: * the provision, operation and maintenance of a network of marine aids to navigation, for example,

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

s * ensuring the seaworthiness and safe operation of Australian and foreign vessels in Australian waters, including the enforcement of compulsory

pilotage Piloting or pilotage is the process of navigating on water or in the air using fixed points of reference on the sea or on land, usually with reference to a nautical chart or aeronautical chart to obtain a fix of the position of the vessel or air ...

* administering the certification of seafarers * the provision of a maritime distress and safety communications network * the operation of Australia's Rescue Coordination Centre and coordination of

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

(SAR) operations for civilian aircraft and vessels in distress and * the development of a maritime safety commercial vessel legislative framework and operating system. AMSA aims to protect the marine environment by administering programs to prevent and respond to the threat of ship-sourced marine pollution; and together with the

Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre The Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre (AMOSC) is an organisation set up by the petroleum industry to enable a quick and effective response to oil spills around the Australian coastline. The organisation is owned by the Australian Institute of P ...

, managing Australia's National Plan to combat pollution of the sea by oil and other noxious and hazardous substances. It is responsible for administering

MARPOL 73/78 The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978, or "MARPOL 73/78" (short for "marine pollution") is one of the most important international marine environmental conventions. It ...

, an international marine environmental convention designed to minimize pollution of the seas. AMSA can instigate prosecutions itself, but mainly works with states and territories during investigations and enforcement activities such as vessel inspections. A recent major AMSA project involved the rewrite of the Navigation Act 1912, the agency's governing statute.

Shipping registers

AMSA maintains two shipping registers. Ships registered on an Australian shipping register have Australian nationality for international

shipping law Maritime law or admiralty law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between priva ...

purposes. Unless otherwise exempt, Australian owned ships are required to be registered on the general or international shipping register if it is a domestic commercial vessel, 24 metres or over in tonnage length, capable of navigating the high seas, or any vessel travelling overseas. Vessels engaging in international trading that are at least 24 metres in tonnage length and wholly owned or operated by Australian residents, or by Australian residents and Australian nationals may apply to be registered on the international register. There are tax incentives for ships on the international register to make the register competitive with other registers, such as vessels being operated with mixed crews, with the majority of officers and crew not being required to be Australian citizens or residents. AMSA has delegated certain survey and certification functions to a number of recognised

classification societies A ship classification society or ship classification organisation is a non-governmental organization that establishes and maintains technical standards for the construction and operation of ships and offshore structures. Classification societies ...

, which are members of the

International Association of Classification Societies The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) is a technically based non-governmental organization that currently consists of twelve member marine classification societies. More than 90% of the world's cargo-carrying ships’ ...

. The

Council of Australian Governments The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) was the primary intergovernmental forum in Australia from 1992 to 2020. Comprising the federal government, the governments of the six states and two mainland territories and the Australian Local G ...

(COAG) in 2011 directed AMSA to work co-operatively with the states and territories to create a national system for domestic commercial vessels, including any changes to Commonwealth, state and territory laws and administrative arrangements of the parties that are necessary to facilitate the reform. The new legislation came into effect in 2013, and the transition to the new system was completed in July 2018.

Emergency towage vessel capability

''Coral Knight'' is an anchor handling

tug A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

supply vessel modified to fulfil the role of dedicated emergency towage vessel (ETV). It is the only ETV of its type in Australia and operates in the particularly sensitive sea areas of the northern

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

and

Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes ( Kalaw Lagaw Ya#Phonology 2, �zen̪ad̪ kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, ...

. ''Coral Knight'' is also equipped to respond to other maritime incidents such as

or limiting the effects of ship-sourced pollution of the sea and carries

oil pollution An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into ...

response equipment.

Publications

The Authority publishes a range of materials in relation to maritime safety. its maritime survival manual ''Survival at Sea: A Training and Instruction Manual'' is in its 6th edition.

Notes

External links