This BIMCO COVID 19 weekly report for the week ending 17 December covers the World Health Organization (WHO), Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, Gard P&I club and the latest from the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Every week, BIMCO summarises measures imposed by governments for sea transport, including for crew change, as well as updates from United Nations bodies such as the IMO, WHO and International Labour Organization (ILO).
On 10 December, WHO issued a global technical brief and priority action required for Member states to enhance readiness for Omicron ( B.1.1.529), of which WHO has given an overview. The overall risk related to the new variant of concern Omicron remains very high for a number of reasons and also due to the fact that the global risk of COVID-19 remains very high overall. A risk-based approach to adjust international travel measures in a timely manner is recommended and efforts to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination coverage as rapidly as possible should continue. See WHO advice for international traffic in relation to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant for additional information.
Please see BIMCO-WHO for more information.
Please see the latest update as at 8 December provided by Shipping Australia Limited, including on Omicron-imposed restrictions. Notwithstanding that maritime crew is exempted from travel restrictions under Federal law, seafarers are still required to comply with the laws applicable to individual state or territory so both requirements always need to be double-checked before travelling to Australia.
Via an IMO circular letter no. 4255/Add.3, Belgium has started on 6 December a campaign to provide booster vaccination shots to all seafarers arriving at Belgian ports in addition to already providing vaccination for all seafarers since July 2021 to support seafarers as key workers.
Further to the BIMCO Brazilian update provided in our COVID weekly report on 10 December ( see below for easy reference), Westshore has kindly updated us of the following provided by Promare :
BIMCO COVID-weekly report on 10 December (extract on Brazil)
According to a translation of ordinance 661/21 provided by the Brazilian general consulate in London, authorisation to persons with recent travel history within the past 14 days to the below list of countries and flights originating from or transiting the below list is suspended temporarily:
According to information provided by GAC Hot Port News, the Ministry of Health has withdrawn the special travel restrictions applied to certain African countries. Current restrictions are as follows for seafarers in accordance with Section H of the Ministry of Health declaration dated 25 October:
According to information provided by GAC Hot Port News, the countries mentioned on 2 December have been removed from the UK's Red list of countries. A quick glance through the government''s websites confirms this information. At the moment of writing, there are no countries on the Red list for the following:
Gard P&I club has issued guidance to help their members to differentiate between operational expenses and recoverable insured costs in relation to COVID-related crew claims and how best to prepare for such claims documentation.
The below circulars represent the latest information to-date from the IMO.
According to GISIS today, the list of countries (46) informing the IMO of their national focal point of contact for crew change and repatriation of seafarers are: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the Cook Islands, Cyprus, Dominica, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Libya , the Marshall Islands, Mexico, Montenegro, Myanmar, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Singapore , Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand , Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and Vanuatu.
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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