Singapore Mandates Health Declarations for High-Risk Vessel Arrivals

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  • New MDH Requirement for Ships Arriving from Designated Countries.
  • MPA Directive on Maritime Health Declarations Takes Effect 8 May 2025.
  • Ships with Sick Crew or Recent High-Risk Port Calls Must Submit MDH.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has issued a new directive for the compulsory filing of the Maritime Declaration of Health (MDH) for certain ships entering the Port of Singapore. The directive is issued under revised advice from the National Environment Agency (NEA) and is effective from 8 May 2025, replacing Port Marine Circular No. 09 of 2024, reports Safety4Sea.

Ships Mandatory to File the MDH

The MDH is required to be submitted for ships that satisfy any of the conditions specified below:

  1. The ship has visited ports in any of the below-listed countries in the last 21 days: Angola, Bahrain, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Togo, UAE, Uganda, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
  2. Any passenger or crew on board has visited one of the countries listed in the last 21 days.
  3. The ship has a suspected infectious disease case or a dead person on board.
  4. There is any ill person on board the ship.

Required Documents and Submission Timeline

The following documents should be submitted to the Port Health Office at least 12 hours before the ship arrives at the Port of Singapore:

  1. Maritime Declaration of Health (MDH)
  2. Crew list and/or passenger list
  3. The latest copy of the Ship Sanitation Certificate
  4. Record of the vessel’s last 10 ports of call
  5. List of all passengers and crew members with body temperatures above 37.5°C

Compliance and Enforcement

Non-compliance with these requirements will constitute a breach of the Infectious Diseases (Quarantine) Regulations and can result in enforcement action being taken. The requirement for submission to MDH could also be applied to ships coming from other nations not at present listed in the event of a change in the state of the world’s health, particularly in the case of outbreaks of diseases of concern.

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Source: Safety4Sea