The Indian Directorate General of Shipping has established rules to make sure that trade will resume, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
More specifically, the master of a vessel, prior to arrival at its first port of call in India, must confirm the state of health of each person on board and submit a declaration to the health authorities of the port.
If this declaration is incorrect, the master is liable to be prosecuted according to the law. The Maritime Declaration of Health must be forwarded at least 72 hours before arrival of the ship at the port.
If the voyage duration from last port of departure is less than 72 hours, the Maritime Declaration of Health shall be informed at the port immediately on departure from the port.
Ships with suspected cases of Covid-19 must be monitored by the health authorities and put in quarantine, if necessary.
If the samples are positive, the vessel will remain in quarantine and the infected persons will be dealt with according to the procedures of the Ministry of Health. These ships will have to also be sanitized according to the protocols for dealing with COVID-19 pandemic.
Moreover, vessels arriving from ports of infected countries identified for mandatory quarantine and travel ban by the government, must comply with additional measures.
As for ships arriving from China, they must undergo a necessary quarantine of 14 days.
Stoppages of a vessel at any port of infected countries only for bunkering purposes shall not be counted for the calculation of 14 days from port of departure.
Furthermore, vessels arriving at Indian port after 14 days of departure from an infected port, do not have to comply with the additional precautionary measures. Ports which cannot comply with the additional requirements specified shall not allow the vessels to berth. This measure regards ships that have arrived within 14 days from the infected countries.
In addition, pilot shall not be assigned to any vessel unless pratique is granted to the vessel. The master of the vessel must also make sure that all the areas through which the pilot is likely to pass are appropriately disinfected. What is more, all ships personnel who are likely to interact with the pilot should be wearing appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
The bridge team must also be wearing appropriate PPE at all times while the pilot is onboard. The same applies for the pilot as well.
Finally, ports must make sure that the number of personnel to board the vessel should be kept at minimum.
