The managing director of Hong Kong's Landbridge Ship Management, Sanjeev Verma, has praised Singapore's introduction of vaccinated travel framework for sea on 1 April.
"Some of the Chinese seafarers recently lined up to sign off from the port city of Zhoushan in March 2022. However, they were not allowed to sign off due to local regulations. Moreover, given the government regulation to quarantine 14-21 days outside of China, they need to be spending much time on hotel quarantine. But the flights from foreign countries to China's mainland were also a challenge. There is just one flight every month to China from every country." explained Capt. Verma.
"The ship had sailed out of Zhoushan on 18-March 2022, and we planned to let on signers join in Singapore and then let the ship stopover in Malaysia sign-off Chinese seafarers, where their flight was booked to depart in late May (after spending about 55 days in the hotel)."
"While all these plans were being worked out, on 30-March, we heard that Malaysia had decided to change their visa policies from 1-April, and now they give only a maximum of 30 days of visa for Chinese seafarers to stay in Malaysia."
This news jeopardized their plans to sign them off from Malaysia; however, at the same time, there was another factor working in their favor. On the same day, their agency in Singapore Focal Shipping Services LLC had informed them that MPA is considering allowing Chinese seafarers hotel quarantine in Singapore to fulfill their government regulations before flying back to China.
A meeting was held between Singapore Shipping Association , Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), and all agencies (including Focal Shipping Services LLC, Abishek Priyan attended). As a result, a final decision was received on 31-March morning that from 1-April, Chinese seafarers could stay for 14 days in a Singapore hotel to fulfill China's hotel quarantine regulations before flying.
Immediately a high-speed internet business access was opened for the signing-off crew, and the agency Focal Shipping Services LLC guided the ship in filling up online Singapore visa application forms. All formalities were completed on 31-March evening. And a visa process which normally would have taken up to 3 working days was completed on 1-April morning, and by noon, they had received all the visa approval for Chinese off-signers.
The ship called Singapore port on 2-April morning, and all jubilant Chinese seafarers sign-off in the afternoon.
"Nothing is impossible in the world, but everything needs the right intent and a positive attitude." exclaimed Capt. Verma.
"We like to thank our agency partners in Singapore Focal Shipping Services LLC for their tireless work, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), and finally, our seafarers for their resilience and courage to work under these tough conditions."
Source: Landbridge Ship Management
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