The Cochin Port Trust has facilitated over 10,000 crew changes since the lockdown began, while following all Covid safety protocols.

According to port officials, they had put in place all safety measures for the embarkment and dis-embarkment of crew from ships anchoring at the port. Around 500 ships had called at the outer anchorage of Kochi for crew change. The continuous flow of maritime crew has helped the hospitality and auxiliary business in Kochi stay afloat during the lockdown.

Meanwhile, an official release from the Shipping Ministry said that ports in India facilitated more than one lakh crew change, the highest in the world. Crew change consists of replacing a ship’s crew with another and involves ‘sign-on the ships’ and ‘sign-off the ships’ procedures.

The maritime sector is among the worst-hit due to the pandemic. Still, all Indian ports were operational and provided essential services throughout. The main pillar for the smooth supply chain for India and world were the seafarers, said the release.

The Union Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya has instructed DG Shipping to come up with robust grievances redressal mechanism to facilitate seafarers. He emphasised that seafarers should be able to approach the ministry during the difficult time and none of them should suffer due to poor redress system.

An online utility has been created for the verification of seafarers for charted flights and for uploading details of stranded seafarers along with online ship registrations and online charter licensing,” the DG Shipping Amitabh Kumar said in the release.

 

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