Greater ChinaOperations

Tough renewed anti-Covid measures limit Chinese seafarer availability

Chinese seafarers, among the world’s largest resources of crew, are facing renewed severe hurdles to get on and off ships, in the latest battle shipping is facing in the ongoing crew change crisis.

The Global Maritime Forum is reporting that many shipmanager members are struggling with the onboarding and repatriation of Chinese seafarers due to stricter Chinese government isolation requirements on seafarers post sign off and prior to repatriation.

“We are facing difficulty with the sign-off and repatriation of our Chinese crew due to stringent travel requirements and the increasing cost of flights,” Kishore Rajvanshy, managing director of Fleet Management, one of the world’s largest shipmanagers, told Splash today.

China’s tough anti-Covid policies have caused severe ripples to global supply chains repeatedly recently leading to the partial closure of Yantian and Ningbo-Zhoushan ports as well as the cargo operations at Shanghai airport.

Splash reported earlier this week on how traffic is backing up at ports near and along the Yangtze River with specialised river pilots now required to be quarantined after completing their duties, which has led to pilot shortages.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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