Singapore is to use three floatels previously used to house foreign workers for crew changes from 1 September 2020.
The Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) has confirmed that the crew facilitation centre (CFC) will allow Singapore to carry out more crew changes in a “sustainable manner and with minimal health risk to the general population”.
The three unnamed floating accommodation units at the CFC will be designated as holding or quarantine facilities, the MPA added.
Dedicated to sign-on crew, the CFC will house the crew for up to 48 hours prior to them boarding their ships, while a quarantine facility will house close contacts of crew who are tested positive for Covid-19.
The MPA said sign-off crew will continue to depart Singapore or stay at existing designated holding facilities such as the Seacare Hotel or the 198-passenger offshore support and maintenance vessel POSH Bawean (built 2014) for up to 48 hours, and be “strictly segregated from the community”.
News of the new role for the floatels comes as Singapore looks to reboot its crew change efforts with effect from 1 September 2020.
Crew allowed to change will include those whose employment contract have expired, the change of crew due to the sale or purchase of ship, compassionate grounds or crew no longer medically fit to work onboard the ship.
Risk managed approach to crew changes
The MPA said it was also open to crew changes of additional crew on board whose sign-off would not affect the safe manning of the ship as well as personnel who are not part of the ship’s crew such as superintendents and service engineers.
Singapore is also introducing more streamlined crew change procedures based on what it described as a "risk managed approach".
Crew members signing-on in Singapore who have stayed at least 14 days in a "low-risk" country or region will no longer be required to serve a stay-at-home isolation in the originating country or will only have to serve a shorter isolation of seven days prior to departure for Singapore.
Crew members from other countries or regions will continue to be required to serve an isolation period of 14 days prior to departure.
Separately, the MPA, the Singapore Shipping Association, the Singapore Maritime Officers' Union, and the Singapore Organisation of Seamen, will establish a SGD 1m ($736,500) Singapore Shipping Tripartite Alliance Resilience (SG-STAR) fund to propagate best practices for crew changes.
The MPA said the fund would “work with stakeholders in seafaring nations on concrete solutions for safe crew changes, such as initiatives on best practices for crew holding facilities and PCR testing centres”.
"This has been a trying time for seafarers," said Singapore's minister for transport Ong Ye Kung.
"It is therefore very important for all stakeholders to come together to ensure safe port operations and safe crew changes."
Ong said the dedicated facility for crew change and the fund were "the results of the collaboration" between the MPA, industry associations and seafarer unions.
