June 5th, 202015More and more reports of shipmanagers carrying out successful crew changes are filtering in to the Splash newsdesk. More than 200,000 seafarers are working at sea beyond their original contract lengths with many now onboard for more than a year, thanks to the travel restrictions put in place across the globe in the wake of the spread...
June 1st, 202012Crew changes are beginning to filter in with two weeks to go until the final deadline set by seafarer unions comes into effect. Chartered flights are now operating out of India, principally via Doha as well as Colombo, to take seafarers to ships around the world while in the Philippines, which today came out of one of the world’s...
May 28th, 20203Esteban Pacha, chair of the trustees of Stella Maris and a former ship’s captain, writes for Splash today on what the charity has been doing to help seafarers during the Covid-19 crisis. The 230 Stella Maris chaplains working in 300 ports in 41 countries have been supporting seafarers in many ways during the Covid-19...
May 26th, 20201Six crewmembers of a livestock carrier docked in Fremantle have tested positive for coronavirus. The arrived in Fremantle last Friday from the United Arab Emirates with 48 crew onboard. The infected crew have been taken to a hotel in Perth for quarantining with the remaining crew having regular health check-ups. "I suspect it...
May 25th, 20206The UN secretary-general was urged on Friday by shipping and trade unions leaders to persuade his 193 member states to act urgently to avoid a “humanitarian crisis”, with over 200,000 seafarers currently stuck working on vessels across the globe and unable to be relieved of their duties. In a joint letter to António Guterres, the...
May 20th, 20200China’s economy may be coming back online but the sector faces uncertain demand, weaker freight rates and asset prices, writes Stuart Nicoll from Maritime Strategies International. The chemical tanker sector could be considered in the front line for impact from COVID-19 due to widespread disruption to economic activity in the...
May 20th, 202017More than 5,000 people have signed the global petition Seafarers Matter aiming to draw the attention of the general public to the problems of the hundreds of thousands of seafarers who cannot leave or join ships due to the coronavirus pandemic. The initiative started five days ago, spearheaded by the International Marittime...
May 19th, 20203Pradeep Chawla from Anglo-Eastern urges governments to get a move on resolving the crew change issue. Covid-19 has caused unmeasurable suffering to people all around the world and the crisis is ongoing. Amongst all the chaos, cargoes of grain, coal, oil, medical supplies are being quietly transported on ships. There are around...
May 18th, 202011Shipping companies are being hit by a “ridiculous” slew of sky-high charges to get crews changed in India, with owners being tapped for six-digit dollar sums to complete formalities at local ports, Splash has learnt. India’s under pressure shipping minister, Shri Mansukh L. Mandaviya, vowed yesterday to start repatriating...
May 18th, 202013Documents from the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) of Singapore seen by Splash today show the key Southeast Asian shipping hub is easing its crew change stance. Under the latest enhancement MPA has made to its crew change policy, for signing-on crew, shipping companies are requested to inform MPA of crew change plans 14 days in...
