Clearly something is wrong with the biosecurity process, especially since GC (Glovis Caravel) should have been on a 'suspect' list given stinkbugs in its past history. It would be in Australia's best interest (I would think) if they asked for biosecurity screening to occur at the last port in Asia before any ship departs for Australia. Biosecurity should also occur at the first port of call in Australia too of course, with the Asian pre-screening potentially speeding up the process for Australian ports.
This is how I've understood the unfolding of the GC debacle. This timeline of events might assist others in understanding what has occurred to date with GC.
1) All international inbound cargo ships destined for Australia must be scanned ("biosecurity" check) at their first port of call.
2) For GC its first port of call into Australia was Brisbane and as such this ship must stop at the Bulk Terminal for biosecurity screening.
3) It appears biosecurity found no bugs when it first appeared at the Bulk Terminal (circa Sun 22 Oct 2023), so GC was ok'd to proceeded to Fisherman Island for car offloading.
4) Halfway through off-loading someone (somehow) discovered a stinkbug so offloading was stopped, with GC returning to the Bulk Terminal for biosecurity screening (once more) and then fumigation when stinkbugs were confirmed. I'm presuming fumigation happens while the ship is moored at the Bulk Terminal.
5) After fumigation GC was ordered to sail off the coast for a period of time (the quarantine period - I've read this is up to 4 weeks).
6) After the quarantine period had been served GC revisited the Bulk Terminal for biosecurity screening once again to confirm stinkbugs have indeed been irradicated (I do not know how stinkbugs are detected).
7) Wed 15 Nov 2023: Seems that GC has been cleared of stinkbugs and has been given the ok to proceed to Fisherman Island to offload the remaining cars destinated for QLD? Watch this thread for updates by members in-the-know.
After offloading we can expect to see GC head to Port Kembla to offload cars (not just Tesla's) destined for NSW/ACT, then on to Melbourne to offload cars destined for VIC. I am unsure how South Australia gets their cars - I suspect vi cargo ships that travel down the west coast of Australia to Perth then on to Adelaide?
Please correct any mistakes here.
Thanks,
Mark
Last edited:
and if yours is on stink ship GC then remove the “don’t”
