In a recently published Marine Notice, AMSA outlines the maximum continuous period that a seafarer can serve on board a vessel without taking leave during the period of disruption that has been caused by COVID-19.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is responding to an incident involving the loss of about three shipping containers from the Liberian-flagged container ship, Navios Unite.
It has been alleged that the Panama Ship Registry advised that seafarer contracts can be extended by a further three months with some seafarers now on course to serve a total of 17 months at sea.
The containership APL England, which lost approximately 40 containers on 24 May off Sydney, was allowed to leave the port of Brisbane and set sail to China, where it is scheduled to undertake repairs.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) detained a vessel at Port Hedland and advised them to fix three crew-related deficiencies prior to departure.
Following the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s 12-month detention of the Panama-flagged “Fortune Genius” bulk carrier, the Australian Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) further affirmed this decision.
AMSA has issued a direction ordering the owner of APL England to search for missing containers that were lost from their vessel off New South Wales last month. The direction also orders the owners to recover containers as agreed with AMSA.
In a detailed guidance, AMSA highlights the importance of providing adequate sources at a company level to manage the risks of fatigue. Duty scheduling and planning to control work and rest hours is one of the critical issues in managing fatigue.
Following the container loss of APL England, Australian authorities took actions to make sure that the owners and operators would take financial responsibility for the damages of the incident.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) detained the APL England in the Port of Brisbane on May 27, ass the inspection revealed that the lashing of the cargo was heavily corroded.
