Owing to the changing epidemic situation in Hong Kong in the past few days, the HKSAR government has imposed a new condition to safeguard public health, while allowing both cargo ships and passenger ships to continue to perform crew changes in Hong Kong.
In gist, starting from today (10 July), all signing-on sea crew members arriving at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) must have a negative result of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test at his/her last place of embarkation within 48 hours prior to his/her time of departure from the place of embarkation. (Thetest should be performed by an ISO 15189-accredited laboratoryora laboratoryrecognized by the government where the laboratory is located.) The shipping company or agent shall declare this on the guarantee letter to be submitted to the immigration authorities. And the crew member is required to present the test report and the guarantee letter to the health authorities when he/she enters Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Shipowners Association (HKSOA)has gathered that the government now agrees that e-certificates would be acceptable, and that there would be a three-day “grace period” till Sunday, 12 July. HKSOA also informs the members that this new measure is necessary to prevent the spread of thecoronavirus to the local prevention. All members should follow all the latest requirements, conditions and procedures set by the port, immigration and health authorities in performing crew changes.
Should you have any queries on the exact arrangements, please do directly contact Hong Kong Marine Department and/or the Port Health Officer.
In gist, starting from today (10 July), all signing-on sea crew members arriving at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) must have a negative result of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test at his/her last place of embarkation within 48 hours prior to his/her time of departure from the place of embarkation. (Thetest should be performed by an ISO 15189-accredited laboratoryora laboratoryrecognized by the government where the laboratory is located.) The shipping company or agent shall declare this on the guarantee letter to be submitted to the immigration authorities. And the crew member is required to present the test report and the guarantee letter to the health authorities when he/she enters Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Shipowners Association (HKSOA)has gathered that the government now agrees that e-certificates would be acceptable, and that there would be a three-day “grace period” till Sunday, 12 July. HKSOA also informs the members that this new measure is necessary to prevent the spread of thecoronavirus to the local prevention. All members should follow all the latest requirements, conditions and procedures set by the port, immigration and health authorities in performing crew changes.
Should you have any queries on the exact arrangements, please do directly contact Hong Kong Marine Department and/or the Port Health Officer.
The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Xinde Marine News.
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