摘要: |
There is not much movement in the crew change crisis that 400,000 seafarers with overdue sea time currently face. The latest IAPH COVID-19 Barometer, which was published at the end of February, indicates one of the reasons for this: a lack of co-ordination. "The feedback to the survey also reemphasized that ports have no say in neither decisions related to crew changes nor in terms of overlooking the implementation process, as these changes depend on other authorities beyond the port," the survey analysis said. Industry bodies and shipping companies have signed numerous declarations over the past months, committing to help the crew, but the situation has not much changed since the height of the pandemic. "On a global scale, 44% of ports that provided information on crew changes reported no crew changes had taken place in week 6 of 2021," the report said. Proving further that this is a political rather than an operational issue, ports responded saying that "whenever crew changes take place, they are successful in all respects. Domestically registered vessels continue to perform crew changes, but foreign crew changes have occurred with no concern or delay". |