SHIPPING Australia has called for the New South Wales government to relax mandates around the movement of seafarers, suggesting the restrictions are now irrelevant.
The association’s submission to the NSW government coincides with a review of its existing maritime public health order, currently in its fourth iteration, which will soon receive an update.
Current regulations provide that crews coming into NSW cannot disembark unless they are authorised by the police commissioner, are undertaking an essential task, or are leaving Australia.
Crewmembers may also disembark in the event of an emergency, but in all other cases, they require an exemption from NSW health.
The regulations intend to prevent seafarers bringing COVID into the state, however SAL suggests the threat has been reversed, the infection rates in NSW now posing a greater risk to seafarers.
They said the policy of imposing restrictions around seafarers’ movements is no longer relevant, due to the rapid spread of the omicron variant in NSW, and the action shipping companies have taken to protect their crews from COVID.
“Continued controls on seafarers arriving in New South Wales now seem to be rather pointless because they can no longer fulfil their policy goals and their monetary and non-monetary costs now outweigh their benefits,” SAL said.
Beyond the threat of shoreside transmission to maritime crews, they said continued restrictions on crew change and shore leave are likely to contribute to maritime accidents and associated costs.
The association argued tight controls on the movement of seafarers are impacting their ability to work safely, as lack of shore leave contributes to fatigue, heightening the risk of injuries, fatalities, and accidents.
Potential accidents include groundings, collisions, and subsequent pollution, all of which carry financial repercussions.
SAL emphasised the safe operation of ships requires seafarers to be appropriately rested and cared for.
“Not allowing seafarers to have shore leave and interfering with their ability to be repatriated via a crew change is a gross breach of the human and legal rights of seafarers,” they said.
“There have been instances crew members waiting at the top of the gangway with their bags packed, ready to depart, but the approval to disembark has not been given in time or at all.
“The ship, with the seafarer, has had to sail on. We can only imagine how crushing it would be for that to happen at the end of a nine-month shift.”
According to the association, the existing controls also interfere with crews’ access to medical care.
Under current mandates, local shipping offices and ship agents have to arrange for doctors and dentists to visit wharves to provide medical care to seafarers.
SAL said this is particularly challenging given practitioners’ schedules and the limited time a ship is in port.
They reiterated their suggestion that there are no longer advantages to such controls, and that the costs of controlling seafarer movements on the grounds of public health outweigh the existing benefits.
“It is time to abolish, discontinue and not renew restrictions on seafarer movements,” they said.
“It’s time to make crew changes easier. It is time to stop requiring seafarers to isolate when entering or leaving the country. It is time to stop breaching the human and legal rights of seafarers by allowing them to use their rights to shore leave.
“At the very least, the NSW Government should enable seafarers to get easy access to medical care. They should be able to go to the doctor or dentist just like anybody else.”
“The NSW government has, in recent months, repeatedly told us all that we need to live with COVID. It’s time to put that policy into effect on the waterfront.”
