In a virtual meeting with their counterparts during the 39th ASEAN Maritime Transport Working Group, the current administrator announced the said plan. The country had already opened three major ports for this purpose, namely the Ports of Manila, Bataan and Subic. It also plans to open several ports for changing crews such as the Ports of Batangas, Cebu and Davao.
Due to CoVID 19 Pandemic, many seafarers have been affected by several countries' policy on accepting ship's crew for crew changes for fear that they can carry the disease and could start an avalanche of infections in their country. As a result, there have been cases of seafarers not able to come ashore for their scheduled leave, vacation or simply reporting to their new ships. Under the Maritime Convention, ship's crews are only allowed up to 9 months aboard ship. Prolonging stay aboard might have significant impact on the safety of navigation due to stress, fatigue and psychological effect to an individual. Hence, it is very important that ship's crew should be given regular shore leave as scheduled.
Accordingly, the move is in coordination with Local Government Units and approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
In balancing the health and necessity for crew change, MARINA will be following the guidelines issued by IATF-EID for accepting repatriated seafarers and Overseas Filipino Workers both for local and domestic flights. One such measure will be the administration of RT-PCR testing upon disembarkation of seafarers.
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