A new digital system that will allow seafarers to securely verify their Covid-19 test status through a smartphone, and help ease the crew change crisis, is to be trialled from next month.
The initiative involves an already approved system called CERTUS myHealth Pass, which has been developed by digital security and blockchain company SICPA.
CERTUS myHealth Pass has been adapted along with Hong Kong not-for-profit organisation Crew Assist to help seafarers overcome a major barrier in leaving or joining ships.
It will allow them to quickly demonstrate to immigration authorities their Covid-19 test results through a secure phone app which meets government-approved security standards.
It is hoped that the system's security features will also address the problem of falsification of test results.
Identifying abnormalities
SICPA's regional managing director of marking security solutions in Asia, Alain Augsburger, said the system would “protect seafarers’ private information while providing governments with a trustworthy way to verify and identify any abnormalities that may prevent free passage of seafarers”.
A proof-of-concept trial will begin in Singapore and the Philippines in September involving Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping and the Thome Group, which together manage around 12,000 seafarers.
The project has the backing of the International Chamber of Shipping, the International Transport Workers’ Federation and the employers’ collective bargaining agreement negotiation body the Joint Negotiating Group.
Hong Kong-based insurance executive Jonathan Jones is involved in the project through Crew Assist.
“Since the onset of the pandemic, the industry has been battling the bureaucracy and fluctuating regulations preventing seafarer changes. CERTUS myHealth Pass offers a technology-based solution that can potentially eliminate a major concern, allowing us to focus on other aspects of facilitating a crew change to get our colleagues home,” he said.
