PICTURE: Hong Kong Maritime Hub
BIMCO records that, adhering to numerous conversations with the Hong Kong Shipowners Association (HKSOA), the management in Hong Kong is permitting conditional yet unlimited staff adjustment in Hong Kong.
According to info given by the HKSAO as well as validated by the Hong Kong Maritime Department (MARDEP), freight ships without arranged freight procedures in Hong Kong will certainly be enabled to make staff chanes if the list below problems are fulfilled:
- Out- going staff participants that have actually finished their solution aboard would certainly be called for to remain on board the vessel throughout their remain in Hong Kong as well as take a trip straight to the airport terminal for repatriation to their house nations in order to reduce call with the neighborhood neighborhood
- Incoming staff participants need to just show up Hong Kong when their vessels are berthed in Hong Kong as well as need to jump on board when arrival. If there is an authentic requirement for them to remain in Hong Kong while waiting to board, the delivery companies/agents need to schedule lodging for self-isolation up until jumping on board
- Point- to-point transfers need to be set up by the delivery companies/agents for staff participants to as well as from the vessel.
According to the Hong Kong Maritime Hub site, the advancement has actually been attained by the relentless lobbying of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, the Hong Kong Liners Shipping Association, as well as seafarers’ depictive bodies.
“Today, we are very pleased to see that the HKSAR Government has taken our advice to further relax the arrangements so that with immediate effect, crew change of cargo ships without cargo operations is also allowed,” stated Bjorn Hojgaard, Chairman of theHong Kong Shipowners Association “Once again, as a leading maritime center, Hong Kong has set an excellent example. We hope other governments will follow. Shipping is indispensable if the world is to win this battle against the virus.”
According to the International Labor Organization (! LO) there are presently in between 150,000 as well as 200,000 seafarers globally by neighborhood COVID-19 avoidance steps that avert staff modifications. As we reported previously, they consist of the staffs of 5 U.S.-flagged containerships– running in the Mediterranean, the Arabian Sea as well as the Persian Gulf, as well as all individuals in the Maritime Security Program– that have actually been functioning considering that December 2019 without alleviations.
Read the Hong Kong Marine Department notification HERE
