- Singapore MPA has released a new Port Marine Circular (PMC) 14 of 2021 which supersedes the previous PMC 10 of 2021.
- The circular is in line with the new requirements imposed by the Singapore authorities.
- It requires a 21 day Stay-Home-Notice (SHN) in the crew’s originating country/region in the period immediately prior to his/her departure flight/ferry to Singapore.
- Crew from specific low risk countries/regions will either not be required to serve the SHN or serve a shorter SHN of 7 days in his/her originating country.
A recent Standard Club news sources says that Singapore MPA comes out with a new Port Marine Circular (PMC) 14 of 2021.
Requirements for crew change
(a) crew whose employment contract has expired;
(b) additional crew on board whose sign-off would not affect the safe manning
of the ship;
(c) change of crew due to the sale or purchase of ship;
(d) personnel who are not part of the ship’s crew such as superintendents and
service engineers;
(e) compassionate grounds e.g. death of family member; or
(f) the crew is no longer medically fit to work onboard the ship.
The requirements for signing-on and -off in Singapore are as follows
Sign-on
(a) In general, signing-on crew are required to serve 21-day Stay-Home-Notice (SHN) in the crew’s originating country/region in the period immediately prior to his/her departure flight/ferry to Singapore.
The crew should be completely isolated in a room with a dedicated toilet with strictly no interaction with others (including family members) at his/her place of residence, or serve the SHN in a dedicated facility/hotel.
(b) Crew from specific low risk countries/regions will either not be required to serve the SHN or serve a shorter SHN of 7 days in his/her originating country/region prior to departure for Singapore.
Please refer to ICA’s website (https://safetravel.ica.gov.sg/files/SHN-and-swab summary.pdf) for the latest list of low risk countries/regions where no or 7-day SHN is imposed.
(c) The crew must have a negative result from a COVID-19 test (polymerase chain reaction (PCR) type) taken at a government-approved or ISO 15189- accredited testing facility at his/her originating country not more than 72 hours prior to departure for Singapore.
(d) The crew must be certified fit-to-travel by a doctor at his/her originating country not more than 24 hours prior to departure for Singapore.
(e) During the entire crew change process, including during the journey to Singapore, the crew should not be in a group of more than five (5) persons, and must remain in the same group. There must be no interactions between groups.
(f) The crew should only join his/her ship not more than two (2) days before the date of the ship’s final departure from Singapore. For ships departing for sea trial and returning to Singapore, the date of departure for sea trial will not be considered the date of the ship’s final departure.
(g) Crew shall only join the ship in Singapore after all high-risk1 shore-based personnel have completed their work on board and disembarked the ship.
(h) Meet-and-greet services must be arranged for sign-on crew arriving at Changi Airport, to escort the crew from the moment they disembark the plane to the point where they are handed over to the agent for the direct transfer to the ship or designated holding facility.
(i) Crew who have recovered from COVID-19 must submit documentary proof
of his/her past diagnosis of COVID-19 based on the earliest positive PCR test result.
If the date of the positive PCR test result is 21 days or fewer before the date of arrival in Singapore, he/she will not be approved for crew
change.
If the date of positive PCR test result is more than 21 days before the date of arrival in Singapore, he/she shall comply with the above sign-on requirements.
Sign-off
(a) The crew must not have gone ashore in the last 21 days before disembarking the ship, must have remained well and not had contact with any known or suspected case of COVID-19 throughout that period.
(b) The crew must refrain from interacting with shore-based personnel at previous ports of call in the last 21 days.
(c) The crew must be certified fit-to-travel by a doctor in Singapore not more than 24 hours before disembarking the ship. Tele-medicine can be used to obtain a fit-to-travel assessment and certification. MPA will accept fit-totravel certificates issued by Singapore Medical Council-fully registered doctors meeting the requirements in Annex A.
(d) Crew subjected to serology test shall remain onboard until production of a negative COVID-19 serology test result.
Precautionary measures for service providers facilitating crew change
Service providers that facilitate crew change in Singapore shall comply with the
minimum level of personal protective equipment (PPE) as follows:
• Meet-and-greet staff shall don surgical mask and gloves when escorting crew at the airport.
• Land transport drivers shall don full PPE (N95 mask, gloves, gown) when transporting crew between the airport and vessel.
• Launch boat operators shall down full PPE (N95 mask, gloves, gown) when transporting crew between the pier and vessel.
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Source: The Standard Club
