With effect from 1st September 2020, the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) will implement revised requirements to the process of crew changes.This is to enable crew changes to be better facilitated as well as mitigating the risk of having COVID-19 amongst crew members and the general public at large.
Revised Crew Change Requirements
In short, the requirements are as follows:
Signing-on crew requirements
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All crew members except those coming from low risk countries/regions are required to serve 14-day Stay-Home-Notice (SHN) in the originating country/region.
As at 28th August, the countries considered of low risk are Brunei Darussalam and New Zealand for a waiver of 14-day SHN. Crew members from Australia (excluding Victoria State), Macao, Mainland China, Taiwan and Vietnam will however need to do a 7-day SHN in the originating country prior to departure from Singapore. Please refer to MOH’s website for the most updated list of countries.
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All crew must be certified fit-to-travel by doctor in originating country not more than 24 hours prior to departure flight and arrive in Singapore to join the ship not more than days before ship's departure from Singapore.
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Crew must also have obtained a negative COVID-19 test result not more than 48 hours prior to the departure flight. The test must be a polymerase chain reaction (PCR type) taken at a government -approved or ISO 151189-accredited testing facility.
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If crew member was previously tested COVID-19 positive, the date of this test must be more than 21 days from date of departure from originating country to Singapore.
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The crew changing process requires no more than 5 persons in a group and no interactions between these groups.
Signing-off crew requirements:
›Certified fit-to-travel by doctor in Singapore not more than 24 hours before disembarking the ship; and
› has not gone ashore in the last 14 days before disembarking and has remained well throughout the period.
Crew Facilitation Centre (CFC)
Also effective 1 September 2020, a Crew Facilitation Centre (CFC) at Tanjong Pagar Terminal containing three floating accommodations designated as holding or quarantine facilities is established to enable crew changes to be facilitated in a safe manner. These will house sign-on crew that are waiting for their ships’ arrival for up to 48 hours, and a quarantine facility to house close contacts of crew who are tested positive for COVID-19.
For full details of PMA’s revised crew change requirements and the CFC, please refer to
PMC circular 36 which supersedes PMC circular 31.
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.
The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Xinde Marine News.
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media@xindemarine.com
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