New York-based Genco Shipping & Trading has pulled off what it said is the first full crew change by a shipowner since March in Singapore and the first allowed under the nation's new Covid-19 regime.
The change aboard the 180,000-dwt capesize Genco Liberty (built 2016) was completed on Saturday, the New York-listed bulker owner told TradeWinds. The 19-man crew has been repatriated to India after many had been aboard the vessel for eight to 10 months.
A total of 37 seafarers were involved in the exchange under procedures established by Genco, the Singapore Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) and Synergy Marine Group, the vessel's Singapore-based technical manager.
Crew changes have been a persistent problem for seafarers trapped aboard vessels owing to government restrictions globally.
"It feels good," said Genco chief executive John Wobensmith in an interview with TradeWinds on Sunday.
"We’d been talking with the captain about this for three or four weeks and we committed to him. We said if we can do this, we are going to. And then Singapore has a lot to do with it. I can’t thank the MPA enough. They really were proactive."
The Genco Liberty was carrying a cargo of iron ore from Brazil to China and diverted to Singapore to effect the change, Wobensmith said.
The departing seafarers were replaced by another Indian crew that had quarantined for 14 days in Sri Lanka before flying to Singapore in personal protective equipment (PPE) and heading directly to the vessel in accordance with MPA procedures.
"This vessel in particular had quite a few guys on beyond their contract periods of six-to-eight months. We obviously would have rather done it sooner, but this was the first opening," Wobensmith said.
"Singaporean authorities very much want to have crew changes. But they also rightfully want to make sure protocols are in place and followed to mitigate risk. The biggest thing was making them comfortable that the quarantine was done properly, and then of course that the crew testing was done."
Genco has Indian and Chinese crews. It has been able to carry out two changes of Chinese crews under that country's regulations within the last 30 days, Wobensmith said.
"You can imagine being on board past your contract. We’ve been communicative and transparent in our dealing with the crew and they have acted extremely responsibly under some circumstances that have not been great," Wobensmith said.
"We will definitely have some further crew changes in China, and now that Singapore is more open we're hopeful to be doing more there as well. We're also hoping other areas like Vietnam and Malaysia and even India will be opening up and will make things a little easier for everyone going forward."
Synergy Marine Group CEO Rajesh Unni said he hoped the Genco Liberty change would prove to be a model for others.
"We are grateful to Genco for taking the lead together with the MPA and the Singaporean government," he said. "We would like to continue to see more crew rotations occur globally as other countries can now look to the successful Genco Liberty crew rotation as the blueprint to help return these seafarers to their families.”
