The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become the latest country to relax regulations on the changing of ships’ crews.
In a circular issued on Sunday, the Federal Transport Authority (FTA) said the restrictions would be “lifted gradually”.
Priority will be given to seafarers with a resident visa who are stuck on board their ships; crews of passengerships laid up in the UAE; crew who are no longer medically fit to work; and those with urgent medical or humanitarian cases.
Mariners must have been on board a ship that has remained in the UAE for at least 14 days, and there must have been no contact with any person outside the ship who has been outside of the UAE for 14 days.
The shipmanager or owner must submit a medical statement on behalf of seafarers suffering from the health condition that they are not fit to serve on board the ship and that they are able to travel on a flight to their home country, for which they must also provide an air ticket.
The FTA said it was making the changes in response to “maritime and industry appeals” to facilitate the process of crew changes.
The move was “in appreciation” of the efforts made by seafarers and their “vital role” in maintaining the integrity of supply chains.
Last week, Carl Schou became the latest top shipmanager chief executive to call on global governments to resolve the mounting crisis of stranded crews.
The Wilhelmsen Ship Management boss said that with the recent crew changeover deferrals, the industry had “bought ourselves a time window — for now”.
“We should not have to ask the crew for another deferral. This is unacceptable,” he said in a post on social media.
Synergy Marine Group chief executive Rajesh Unni has said a potential solution is for owners and managers to "work with other stakeholders" to change crews at selected key ports in standardised procedures.
According to the International Chamber of Shipping, about 100,000 seafarers reach the end of their employment contracts in any given month and need to be repatriated.
Last month, Singapore softened a ban on crew changes only a few days after imposing an outright prohibition, saying they could take place under “special circumstances”.
The potential exceptions include cases in which crew members had served their maximum time on board with no further extensions of employment contracts permitted by the flag state.
It would also consider “compassionate grounds” such as the death of a relative and cases in which crew are no longer medically fit to serve.
