Chinese seafarers on board a container ship operated by Orient Overseas Container Lines will be prevented from leaving the vessel while it is at Taiwanese shipbuilder CSBC Corporation for maintenance servicing.
The arrival of OOCL Luxembourg on 6 February 2020 caused concern among shipyard workers as the ship had previously called at Ningbo, China, and had Chinese nationals among its crew.
An outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia originated in Wuhan, capital of China’s Hubei province, and has spread throughout China, to Asia, Europe, Australia, the UAE and North America. In China, nearly 40,000 people have been infected and more than 900 have died.
In response, governments around the world have quarantined ships that called at Chinese ports in the last 14 days, or restricted access to people arriving from China.
OOCL is now part of Chinese state-controlled shipping group China COSCO Shipping Corporation and the 8,063 TEU OOCL Luxembourg serves the Asia-US West Coast route. AIS data shows that OOCL Luxembourg called at Ningbo on 3 February and departed for CSBC’s Kaohsiung facility the following day.
To reassure its workers, CSBC stationed 24-hour security personnel at the gangway of OOCL Luxembourg to prevent the ship’s Chinese seafarers from disembarking.
A spokesperson for CSBC Corporation told Container News that the vessel had complied with the International Port Corporation’s guidelines regarding the coronavirus outbreak, based on OOCL Luxembourg’s past calls at Chinese ports.
He said: “All CSBC workers have to wear face masks, be disinfected with alcohol, have their temperatures taken prior to entering the ship, and have their entries recorded.”
As the coronavirus has an incubation period of up to 14 days, CSBC said that its workers will not be allowed to have physical contact with the OOCL Luxembourg crew during the first fortnight of the maintenance works.
The CSBC spokesperson added that the OOCL Luxembourg was disinfected on 10 February.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
