The BIMCO Maritime Information department informs members on a weekly basis, updates about the COVID-19 in relation to implementation measures imposed by governments for sea transport including for crew change as well as from the United Nation bodies like the International Maritime Organization (IMO), World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labour Organization (ILO).
BIMCO provides the following update for this week ending Friday, 22 January 2021
IMO has issued the following circular:
As of today, the countries that have informed the IMO of the above are: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Dominica, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Montenegro, Myanmar, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Vanuatu.
Reference: MSC.7/circ.1/Rev.20
Additional details available on our implementation page.
The Argentine government has announced through an IMO circ. 4287/add. 4, a three tier certificate extension procedure:
Via an IMO circular 4226/add.2, Transport Canada issued ship safety bulletin No. 01/2021, reminding shipowners of all foreign ships operating in Canadian waters, their continued responsibility and obligation relating to a seafarer's maximum period of service on board as well as repatriating them during COVID-19. Strict compliance with respect to a seafarer's validity of SEA must be adhered to, failing which detention and/or administrative monetary penalty may be imposed. Port state control inspections will focus on crew status on board as well as the possibility of crew change performed prior to arriving on Canadian waters.
A temporary flight ban from Dubai has been issued to last until 26 January included.
According to information provided by GAC Hot Port News, the flights from the UAE and Hungary have been suspended until 31 January due to the detection of potent strains of COVID19.
The Singapore Maritime Port Authority has consolidated the measures on crew change imposed last week into an updated official circular PMC 05/2021 which should be referred to as the latest for crew change guidance.
The UK P&I Club reports that crew change is facilitated through the Offshore Crew Transit Hub.
Please see the Standard Operating Procedure provided by Waypoint.
For further details on additional countries, please refer to our implementation page.
BIMCO is continuously monitoring COVID-19 restrictions and its impact on the shipping industry in particular on crew changes. Below are some of the type of information currently being provided by BIMCO :
You can also view all information on our COVID-19 landing page.
Veritas Petroleum Services (VPS) publish regular Bunker Alerts based entirely on fuel samples and have kindly permitted BIMCO’s Members to access this information.
The Bunker Alerts are not intended to be an evaluation of overall bunker quality in the port or area concerned, but usually highlight a specific parameter within the fuel which has raised a quality issue.
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