Crew change lessons have been learned at a cost, but opinions are divided on how hard the hit has been from subsequent lockdowns caused by new strains of the Covid-19 virus.

Most of the world's ports have been a challenge for seafarer rotations at some point over the last year, ship managers told TradeWinds.

Wallem Shipmanagement managing director and interim chief executive John-Kaare Aune pointed to big problems early on when India would not even let its own nationals return or travel out as it went into lockdown.

“Many governments would say they were open for crew changes but then were putting so many obstacles or hurdles in place that it was extremely difficult to get the permissions to organise them,” he said.

Like many, he cited the difficulties caused by China refusing to allow foreign crews in and said the cost of repatriating Chinese crews was at times $4,000 for flights that would normally cost between $500 and $600.

Mutated strains

It got easier, but the spread of new virus strains since December last year has meant many countries have reimposed strict entry requirements, making it again difficult to obtain visas and flights.

Columbia Shipmanagement said it had significantly reduced the number of seafarers stuck on ships, but the new strains had an immediate pullback.

But chief executive Mark O'Neil said a maturing response has meant many maritime hubs are now more likely to insist on testing and quarantining than stopping all movement.

“When we came to the second wave, we found the crewing departments were battle hardened and better able to take problems and pressures in their stride,” O'Neil said. The group has incurred $6m in extra costs so far, he reckoned.

Anglo-Eastern chief executive Bjorn Hojgaard said the development of crew change protocols had meant most companies found ways to get things done in many parts of the world. It was not back to normal, but it was at least possible.

“We are about the same place today and I have not seen a further tightening in recent weeks, albeit I would not be surprised if we saw some over the next three months,” Hojgaard said.

He singled out Singapore as an example of how it can be done but cited China as a remaining bottleneck.

Thome Group chief executive Olav Nortun added: “We are still not out of it. It is not as hard as in the middle of last year but still significant, particularly with Malaysia and Indonesia being in lockdown and the Philippines preventing crew change for a number of nationalities.”

Wilhelmsen Ship Management president and chief executive Carl Schou said the situation was improving.

“The biggest disappointment is that unilateral agreements between countries did not happen. Most countries just shut their borders, end of discussion. Many still have closed borders,” he said.

“We had vessels waiting in China for five months with coal. The crews were not allowed to go ashore, not even when they were sick,” Schou added.

The cost for crew from the Philippines has risen by $1,500 to $2,000 per seafarer going to join a ship, he estimated.

Aune added: “I think it will continue to be more difficult for quite some time again, until we start seeing reductions in new cases.”

Jonathan Boonzaier contributed to this story.