Following an incident where a crew member was diagnosed with COVID-19 upon arrival in Singapore, the Singapore Shipowners Association is reiterating the importance of self-quarantine.
Facilitating crew change in Singapore has been possible with various restrictions since 22 May. Since the release of the new crew change regulation, 14 days of self-quarantine has been a requirement for all crew arriving in Singapore due to the perceived incubation period of COVID-19.
Recently, a crew member was diagnosed with COVID-19 upon arrival and the health authorities in Singapore were engaged to trace all potential contacts to mitigate a potential new outbreak.
“We cannot afford to have a second incident that may jeopardise the entire industry,” Mr. Michael Phoon, Executive Director of the Singapore Shipowners Association said in a message to the association’s members. The message was relayed to BIMCO by GAC (Singapore)
Owners, third party crew managers and sign-on crew members need to make sure the 14-days self-quarantine is observed.
BIMCO is monitoring restrictions to crew mobility and provide a variety of information on the topic to the shipping industry such as:
- Details about implementation measures
- Overview of challenges to crew mobility
- Overview of extensions and exceptions to seafarers’ certificates
In addition, BIMCO has released a crew change clause which provides owners with the contractual tools required to deviate from a voyage to perform crew change.
Source: BIMCO
