Singapore extends crew change ban to seafarers from South Asia

The order comes in line with an announcement by the Ministry of Health (MOH) that all long-term pass holders and short-term visitors with recent travel history (including transit) to Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka within the last 21days will not be allowed entry into Singapore or transit through Singapore.

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Meanwhile, in the new Port Marine Circular No. 14 of 2021, MPA Singapore informs it will continue to consider the following circumstances for crew change applications:

1. crew whose employment contract has expired;
2. additional crew onboard whose sign-off would not affect the safe manning of the ship;
3. change of crew due to the sale or purchase of ship;
4. personnel who are not part of the ship’s crew such as superintendents and service engineers;
5. compassionate grounds e.g. death of a family member; or
6. the crew is no longer medically fit to work onboard the ship.

The updated requirements for signing-on and -off in Singapore are as follows:

Sign-on

1. In general, the 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. During the entire crew change process, including during the journey to Singapore, the crew should not be in a group of more than 5 persons and must remain in the same group. There must be no interactions between groups.
6. The crew should only join his/her ship not more than 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.
7. Crew shall only join the ship in Singapore after all high-risk shore-based personnel have completed their work onboard and disembarked the ship.
8. 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.
9. 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

1. 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.
2. The crew must refrain from interacting with shore-based personnel at previous ports of call in the last 21 days.
3. The crew must be certified fit-to-travel by a doctor in Singapore not more than 24 hours before disembarking the ship. Telemedicine can be used to obtain a fit-to-travel assessment and certification. MPA will accept fit-to travel certificates issued by Singapore Medical Council-fully registered doctors meeting the requirements described in the Circular.
4. Crew subjected to serology test shall remain onboard until production of a negative COVID-19 serology test result.

FIND MORE CREW CHANGE REQUIREMENTS HERE