The harbour craft sector plays an important role in supporting operations in the Port of Singapore. It provides transport, towage and bunkering services, as well as transports stores to ships in the port.
Since 25 January 2021, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) had enhanced the crew change regime for harbour craft. Sign-on crew from overseas are required to undergo a 14-day Stay Home Notice (SHN) in a dedicated facility in Singapore. Each crew member will also be tested twice in Singapore, upon the start of his SHN and the second time at the end of the SHN. This is over and above a five-day SHN in their country of origin, with tests at the start and end of their SHN period abroad.
As an added precaution, a one-time testing operation of 825 crew onboard 98 harbour craft that had undertaken crew change between 17 December 2020 and 13 January 2021 was conducted. All 825 crew tested negative for COVID-19. The one-time testing operation commenced on 27 January 2021 and was completed on 5 February 2021.
The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Xinde Marine News.
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