While fewer cruise lines called into New Zealand last summer, those that did make the journey were more than compliant with our strict biosecurity laws, shows new data released by the Ministry of Primary Industries.
The 01 Oct 2025-30 May 2026 season brought 39 vessels from 20 cruise lines to New Zealand, together making some 655 port calls. Overall, MPI reports that biofouling compliance was strong, with just one vessel failing to meet New Zealand’s biofouling requirements, an improvement on the previous season when three vessels failed. The ministry attributes the low number of incidents to continued industry awareness of New Zealand’s strict biofouling rules.
Also notable was that all 22 vessel audits that took place achieved good results. There were three corrective action plans issued, relating to refuse management, pest management, and passenger information requirements, but MPI states that in each case cruise operators worked constructively with Biosecurity New Zealand to address the issues.
. . . Guests Too
And it wasn’t just the cruise lines passing with flying colours. During the 2025-26 cruise season, 3593 passengers and crew were randomly surveyed at ports around New Zealand after completing normal biosecurity processes. Just three were found carrying undeclared risk items (two jars of honey and a salmon bagel), resulting in a compliance rate of 99.91%.
MPI says this exceeds the target of 98.5% and improves on the previous season’s result of 99.78%. Notable is that compliance rates remained consistently high across all major cruise lines, ranging from 99.72% to 100%.
