Brown Marmorated Stink Bug season: what it is and how it affects logistics

On an annual basis, biosecurity measures are put into place for the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) season.  This tiny but mighty bug can damage crops and cause allergic reactions in people, and is transmitted between countries through the wooden pallets used in palletised shipments.

The protective measures apply to shipments that are imported by Australia and New Zealand, between the months of September to April.  They include the mandatory treatment of imports prior to their arrival at the shipping port and into Australian or New Zealand territory.  Here’s the fine details surrounding these measures:

1. Containers carrying only wine, beer or spirits will not be affected. 

2. For Australian imports only however, if the container also contains point of sale materials, the whole container will be affected. This means fumigation either before departure or upon arrival into any Australia shipping port. 

3. For New Zealand imports specifically from Italy, they will require an MPI supervised unpack.

4. The biosecurity measures also apply to LCL consignments.

5. These measures are at additional cost.

What are the target risk countries for BMSB?

The list of countries that are identified as at risk of transmitting the bug is quite large, with a further two countries classified this season as ‘emerging risk’.  Countries on the watch list are:

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United States of America. For Japan, heightened vessel surveillance will be the only measure applied.

The following countries have been identified as emerging risk and may be selected for a random onshore inspection: United Kingdom and China.

1. China – random inspections will apply to goods shipped between 1 September to 31 December (inclusive)

2. United Kingdom – random inspections will apply to goods shipped between 1 December to 30 April (inclusive)

The measures applies to containerized goods including standard shipping containers, open top containers or flat racks. Acceptable treatment options are heat treatment, methyl bromide fumigation or sufuryl fluoride.

More information can be found here.  Please contact your local Hillebrand Gori office if you have any questions about the BMSB season measures.