A comprehensive guidebook

SMOU formulated a survey on the 22 April to provide the workgroup with a rough indication of the number of seafarers due to sign off in Singapore. The survey was conducted with SMOU collective bargaining agreement companies, and was subsequently extended to a wider sample to SSA and IMEC members. The survey played an important role in providing concrete statistics for the SGCCWG to base their discussions on when approaching agencies such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to work out flights for crew change.

To gain consensus of the other nations that might be involved in repatriation and sending of seafarer relievers to and from Singapore, tripartite partners drew up a comprehensive checklist of processes to facilitate crew change in the midst of the pandemic. The step-by-step flow chart featuring various scenarios of seafarer signing-off from a vessel or signing-on to a vessel is detailed in the guidebook. Mandatory stay-home notice periods for relievers and assessment of signing-off crew by a sea port doctor before disembarkation are some examples of added precautions to ensure that crew change is done with minimal risk of COVID-19 transmission. The SGCCWG had to consider all angles and scenarios in their discussions so as to prevent any aggravation of COVID-19 cases in nations facilitating crew change.

A model framework for crew change