The Covid-19 pandemic has created a crisis to crew change procedures results in many cases thousands of crew members impacted and stranded on ships beyond their contract’s expiration.

Progress on addressing the crew change crisis has been made through significant efforts by many third parties (shipping companies, international organizations, industry associations, governments, etc.) but the situation is still not resolved as many seafarers remain stranded on vessels beyond their contract’s expiration.

IMO Secretary – General Kitack Lim has welcomed the Neptune Declaration, which calls for seafarers to be designated as key workers and  for cooperation to end the crew change crisis.

Until today, the IMO Secretary –General has received 53 notifications from Member States that they have designated seafarers as key workers and one from Associate Member.

Many shipping companies and organisations recognise that they have a shared responsibility across the maritime industry and they have signed the Neptune Declaration.

The aforementioned Declaration is divided to four main actions to facilitate crew changes and keep global supply chains functioning:

-Recognise seafarers as key workers and give them priority access to Covid-19 vaccines

-Establish and implement gold standard health protocols based on existing best practice

-Increase collaboration between ship operators and charterers to facilitate crew changes

-Ensure air connectivity between key maritime hubs for seafarers

Source: www.imo.org, www.globalmaritimeforum.org

Contact us to receive a professional advisory in your area of interest