An alliance of leading shipping, ship management and maritime service companies has called on governments to urgently defuse the “time bomb” it says has been set ticking by the block on crew changes caused by measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
The alliance, which says it has the backing of the International Chamber of Shipping and the International Transport Workers’ Federation, estimates that 100,000 seafarers are already “marooned at sea” as a result of measures taken by governments to deal with the pandemic.
It calls on port states and G20 member countries to take all necessary action to ensure that crew changes can be carried out. It wants seafarers designated as “key workers” and assures that it has developed risk assessment plans to enable crew changes to be made with minimum risk in selected ports.
Graham Westgarth, CEO of V.Group, which is a member of the alliance, noted that the EU had already issued guidelines to allow seafarers to move to and from their vessels but added, “These should be adopted not only by EU members but on a global basis.”
The alliance says it currently represents 1,500 vessels and 70,000 seafarers. As well as V.Group, its members include D/S Norden, Grieg Star, Reederie Nord, Dynacom, Wilhelmsen Ships Service, Pacific Carriers Limited, Magsaysay, Augustea, Columbia Ship Management, Inchcape Shipping Services and Synergy Group.
Captain Rajesh Unni, CEO of Singapore-based ship management company Synergy, said that governments had not intended their Covid-19 measures to prevent key workers from carrying out tasks essential to the wellbeing of society.
“Yet that is exactly what is now happening,” he said. “Current policy represents a potentially disastrous own goal.”
The alliance says that it has identified a number of key ports where crew changes can be organised. These include Singapore, Houston, Rotterdam, Gibraltar, Jebel Ali, Fujairah, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
“As well as identifying ports, we have also developed a rigorous risk assessment methodology and drawn up action plans that we, as employers of seafarers and organisers of crew logistics can implement to mitigate the risk of infection,” Captain Unni said.
Andrew Spurrier
European Correspondent
