Crew change for cargo ships

The MPA will continue to consider the following circumstances for crew change applications:
(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.

Requirements for signing-on and -off in Singapore are as follows:

SIGN-ON

(a) In general, all signing-on crew are required to serve 14-day Stay-HomeNotice (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 no longer 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-swabsummary.pdf) for the latest list of low risk countries/regions.

(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 ship’s final departure from Singapore. Ships departing for sea trial and returning to Singapore is not considered final departure.

(g) Crew shall only join the ship in Singapore after all high-risk shore-based personnel have completed their work on board and disembarked the ship.

(h) 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.
i. 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.
ii. If the date of the positive PCR test result is between 22 to 180 days before the date of arrival in Singapore, the recovered crew need not serve the SHN at his/her originating country/region nor take a COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours before departure for Singapore. If he/she develops symptoms prior to departing for Singapore, he/she must be tested for COVID-19.
iii. If the positive PCR test result is more than 180 days before the date of arrival in Singapore, he/she must serve a 14-day SHN at his/her originating country and take a COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours before departure for Singapore.

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 suspect case of COVID-19 throughout that period.

(b) The crew shall 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.

(d) Crew subjected to serology test shall remain onboard until production of a negative COVID-19 serology test result…

CREWSAFE ACCREDITED FACILITY
The Singapore Shipping Tripartite Alliance Resilience Fund Taskforce (SFTF) has developed a CrewSafe audit programme that endeavours to assist crew source nations to bring a higher level of confidence and quality control checks into crew change processes such as quarantine/holding, medical and swabbing facilities. Please refer to www.ssa.org.sg/mediaimg/publications/sg-star-fund-crewsafe-facilities.html for more information regarding the CrewSafe audit programme and a list of CrewSafe accredited facilities.

For sign-on crew who undergo the protocol under these CrewSafe accredited facilities located overseas, his/her crew change application may be given the following concessions:
(a) Submission of crew change application must be made at least 7 days in advance, instead of 14 days.
(b) If a sign-on crew undergoing the CrewSafe protocol is cancelled, direct replacement for this crew will be allowed if the replacement has been undergoing CrewSafe protocol for the same required duration, instead of having to re-submit a new application and re-start the process.
(c) At Singapore, sign-on crew who had undergone the CrewSafe protocol may stay at the designated holding facilities for up to 5 days (instead of 3 days), if required…

…Ship owners/managers/agents must apply for crew change in Singapore by filling up the online form at www.mpa.gov.sg/web/portal/home/port-ofsingapore/operations/crew-change.

MPA urges ship owners/managers/agents to submit applications at least 14 days before the planned crew change, especially if the application includes sign-on crew. For foreign-flagged ships, crew change will be considered if the ship meets all prevailing requirements, and is in Singapore for cargo operations, bunkering and/or other marine services…

…Any queries relating to this circular should be directed to [email protected]...

(For further details and updates, as well as information about operations in Singapore, contact GAC Singapore at [email protected])

Source: Extracts from Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore Port Marine Circular No.05 of 2021 dated 19 January 2021