Photo: moto moto sc - Unsplash Vaccination being made mandatory before joining ship is just one of the numerous challenges being faced by Indian seafarers as the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to overwhelm the country’s health infrastructure.
Concerns over the availability of vaccines and waiting time are adding to the job uncertainty of seafarers.
Shipowners have begun insisting on hiring crew who are vaccinated ahead of joining ships on their next contract, as new variants of the Covid-19 virus wreak havoc in one of the top suppliers of seafaring manpower. India’s incidence of Covid infections has touched a new world record of over 350,000 new positive cases over the past 24 hours.
April 28, 2021
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Concerns over availability of vaccines and waiting time are adding to the job uncertainty of seafarers
Ship-owners have started insisting on hiring crew who are vaccinated ahead of joining ships on their next contract, as new variants of the Covid-19 virus wreaks havoc in one of the top suppliers of manpower to the global shipping industry.
With maritime hubs such as Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, Fujairah, UK and Canada placing restrictions on crew change involving seafarers with recent travel history to India, ship managers and crewing firms are also backing off from staff swap on ships temporarily.
“We are closely tracking the course of the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak and as an immediate measure have frozen all crew changes outside India for the next 21 days,” said Captain Rajesh Unni, Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Singapore-based ship management company, Synergy Group, which manages some 370 ships.