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, 2nd July 2021.
The below circulars represent the latest information to-date from the IMO.
As per our BIMCO news of 12th April, the IMO has discontinued the issue of the IMO circular in series: MSC.7/circ. 1 relating to government states informing the IMO of their national focal point for crew change and repatriation of seafarers. Instead, the IMO's online Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS) will be used to contain such information.
According to GISIS today, the list of countries (44) 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, Greece, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, the Marshall Islands, Mexico, Montenegro, Myanmar, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand , Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and Vanuatu.
Earlier reference of the MSC.7/circ.1 : our implementation page.
According to information provided by Proinde P&I, the measures mentioned on 23 June are still in place with the following addition:
Travellers with recent infection within the previous 90 days are subject to the following:
Essentially these additional requirements will make it more difficult for recently infected to enter Brazil.
According to information provided by Pinto Basto, the Portuguese travel restrictions are changed with effect from 28 June through to 11 July:
The Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation informed of a further extension of three months granted for seafarer's certificates and documents that have expired or are due to expire on or before 30 September 2021. Full details are available in an IMO circular letter no. 4237/Add.2 dated 21 June 2021.
Seafarers holding certificates issued by the Republic of Slovenia which are due to expire or have already expired shall remain valid until their repatriation, hence allowing them to continue to work legally on board ships until the next port of call. Full details are available in an IMO circular letter no. 4396/Add.1 dated 22 June 2021.
The government of Ukraine has extended the following:
Full details available in an IMO circular letter no. 4232/Add.10.
ICMA - the International Maritime Christian Association - has shared a list of initiatives to get seafarers vaccinated. The list includes information on initiatives in the following countries:
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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