The cost of crew change is set to double starting next year because of the ongoing impact of the coronavirus pandemic a leading ship manager has warned.
Each crew change is expected to rise from $2,000 to $4,000
Danica Crewing Specialists is warning inflationary pressures could run up an additional annual $80,000 in expenses for an average bulk carrier which carries out 40 crew changes a year.
Hamburg-headquartered Danica’s findings are based on the analysis of 1,276 crew changes on bulk carriers it carried out between March and September this year.
Although crew change costs have increased this year the financial impact has been softened because of the lower number of crew changes taking place.
Danica is excluding the additional costs of ship deviations to carry out crew change as more and more ports are removing restrictions.
But Danica calculated additional costs next year amounting to $995 for a seafarer joining ships and $1,060 for those signing off from vessels. The highest increases come from an additional $400 to $480 in hotel fees, Covid-19 test fees costing up to $225 and higher flight costs of $180.
Danica managing director Henrik Jensen said: “Crew changes have gone from being a straightforward shipping activity to becoming a seriously complicated challenge. At Danica our staff have worked long hours trying to resolve travel problems and get seafarers home or to where they need to be.
“There is an ever-changing list of restrictions, medical tests, hotels, visas and transit requirements to be met in order to facilitate crew travel. Today planning and executing a crew change can take two to three times as long as before.”
Despite talk of a Covid-19 vaccine being available from next month Jensen does not see a quick resolution to shipping’s crew crisis and is urging ship operators to budget for the additional costs.
He believes that regular crew scheduling may not return until mid-2021 “at the earliest”.
“Due to Covid-19 and delays in repatriating seafarers, the entire crew planning system is destroyed and crew rotation patterns are all over the place. It will take a lot of time and effort by crew managers and ship owners, and need the assistance of the international community and governments, for the regular crew change system to be re-established,” he said.
