China News Service, February 8th. According to the website of the Ministry of Transport, recently, the Ministry of Transport, the General Administration of Customs, and the National Immigration Administration jointly issued an announcement to suspend the implementation of foreign crew shifts on ships belonging to some shipping companies.
According to the announcement, recently, 15 crew members of the Liberian ship "Omikron Sky" (IMO: 9330329) tested positive for the new crown pneumonia virus nucleic acid and 21 of the Panamanian ship "Asian Spring" (IMO: 9223320) were found in the quarantine process of China’s ports. The crew members tested positive for the new crown pneumonia virus nucleic acid, revealing that the ship or the shipping company to which the ship belongs has failed to effectively perform the main responsibility for the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, preventive measures are not in place, and the prevention and control effect is not obvious.
As the number of crew members on the ship who tested positive for nucleic acid on the above-mentioned ship meets the requirements of relevant regulations on the suspension of crew shifts, it is now decided to suspend the approval of Omicron Ship Management Inc, the management company of Omicron Ship Management Inc, within 30 days from the date of this announcement.
And all the ships (see attachment) owned by the "Asian Spring" ship management company Dia Yuan International Shipping Co., Ltd. carried out foreign crew shifts at ports in my country.
During the suspension of shift change, if the crew members of the above-mentioned company's ship again have a positive result of the customs new crown pneumonia nucleic acid test, they will continue to suspend their foreign nationality crew members' qualifications for shifting at ports in my country before re-evaluation and approval by relevant departments.
In response to the clustered infection incidents of the "Omikron Sky" and "Asian Spring" ships, the local customs department has adopted strict quarantine measures on the ships and crew involved in the epidemic in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.
Prior to the completion of the sanitation and quarantine, personnel departure and other procedures for the above-mentioned ships, the maritime administrative agencies at all levels shall not handle the procedures for ship export.
The announcement pointed out that the "Omikron Sky" and "Asia Spring" and their affiliated companies should strictly follow the "Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Health Commission, General Administration of Customs, National Immigration Administration, Civil Aviation Administration of China" The “Notice on Epidemic Prevention and Control Work” (Jiaohaimingdian [2020] No.l42) and other related documents require that the responsibilities for the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and safe production be fulfilled.
Other shipping companies should take this as a warning to effectively implement the relevant requirements for the prevention and control of the epidemic situation for ship crews, and effectively prevent the risk of the epidemic spreading through domestic water transportation ports.
List of ships belonging to related shipping companies