Crew Change News

Dutch shipbuilder Damen Shipyards and offshore gangway specialist Ampelmann have launched the joint venture OceanXpress to provide offshore crew change solutions in the North Sea area. "This collaboration will see the introduction of a new service to the offshore access market that neatly combines the engineering feats of Damen’s Fast Crew Supplier (FCS) 7011 Aqua Helix with the S-type motion compensated gangway system from Ampelmann," the companies said Friday.The vessel and…

The latest Seafarers Happiness Index report, published today by The Mission to Seafarers, reveals the lowest levels of seafarer satisfaction for eight years, with the Index’s measure of overall happiness decreasing from 6.41 to 5.85 and levels dropping across all categories.The survey, undertaken with the support of the Standard Club and Idwal, reports on Q1 2022 and shows that a turbulent start to 2022 on many fronts has severely impacted seafarer happiness. From the COVID-19 Omicron variant to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and concerns over contractual issues…

There could be a shortage of merchant sailors to crew commercial ships in five years if action is not taken to boost numbers, raising risks for global supply chains, a report said on Wednesday.The shipping industry is already struggling with crewing shortfalls due to the coronavirus pandemic, a situation that will exacerbate expected labour supply problems over the next few years, according to the study published by trade associations BIMCO and the International Chamber of Shipping…

Classification society and risk management expert DNV said Wednesday it would take on an "instrumental role" in helping to facilitate safe crew changes amid South East Asia’s COVID crisis as an auditor in the multi-party backed CrewSafe program.CrewSafe is the creation of the Singapore Shipping Tripartite Alliance Resilience (SG-STAR) Fund Task Force (SFTF), which was established by the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA), the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), Singapore…

Viking Life-Saving Equipment has launched a new Walk-to-Work crew transfer suit that the company says overcomes a cumbersome feature of offshore wind turbine maintenance procedures without compromising safety."The new Viking YouSafe Walk to Work is a one-size immersion suit airtight packed into a bag that is attached to the user’s lifejacket instead of being worn during the transfer between support vessels and offshore installations. Sealed in a protective bag, the lightweight immersion suit has been developed in cooperation with leading offshore wind and Oil & Gas operators…

The crew of bulk carrier Anastasia has debarked in Japan after six months stuck at anchorage off the coast of northern China.The vessel, its coal cargo and mostly Indian crew had been at a standstill since September amid the ongoing COVID-19 crew change crisis and a trade spat including a Chinese ban on Australian coal imports. Anastasia's operator Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), which maintains the Panamanian-flagged vessel and organizes its crew, said the ship's charterer and subcharterer were caught in the resulting political and trade uncertainty as dozens of bulkers were left idled off the Chinese coast for months.Making the problem worse is an international crew change crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that has left hundreds of thousands of seafarers trapped at sea.

Nearly four years into their odyssey at sea, the five-member crew of oil tanker MT Iba [ex-Titan Brave] is tantalizingly close to shore, yet still unable to set foot on dry land.Bleary-eyed and wearing tattered clothes, the men are exhausted from an ordeal that has kept them from their families and aboard the 5,000-tonne vessel long after its owner abandoned it in the Gulf.What started out as a regular seafaring job turned into what the men call a nightmare, when the tanker's owner, Alco Shipping, fell into financial trouble and stopped paying their salaries 32 months ago.The crew was left to fend for itself, relying on donations from charities they contacted for food and hygiene supplies.The tanker ran aground in Umm Al Quwain…

A global network of crew change hubs would help alleviate the humanitarian crisis seafarers face at present, according to the Maritime Authority of Jamaica (MAJ).They could offer a short-term solution to the barriers presented by global travel restrictions, ensuring vital crew changes could take place and facilitating trade and logistics to the benefit of the world economy, the Flag State advised.Rear Admiral (ret’d) Peter Brady, MAJ Director General, explained, “In the Caribbean for example…

The head of the United Nations' shipping agency has spoken out against “no crew change” clauses in charterparties, stating such clauses exacerbate the dire situation of stranded seafarers and undermine the efforts undertaken to resolve the ongoing crew change crisis.So-called “no crew change” clauses, which are demanded by certain charterers, state that no crew changes can occur whilst the charterer’s cargo is onboard – hence not allowing the ship to deviate to ports where crew changes could take place.

Hundreds of thousands of seafarers around the world are stranded at sea due to coronavirus travel restrictions, unable to go home or get medical care, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said on Tuesday, calling on nations to address their plight.Many shipping and transport workers have been at sea as long as 17 months or longer, as COVID-19-related restrictions make it almost impossible to rotate crews, the United Nations' labor agency said.The ILO adopted a resolution asking nations to take action by providing medical care to seafarers in need…

Philippines and Singapore-based crew specialist CF Sharp has established its own COVID-19 testing center in Manila to speed up its crew change process amid mounting coronavirus case counts and ongoing logistical challenges for seafarers and ship managers globally. Sharp, which earlier this year repatriated more than 12,000 crew members from cruise ships around the world, is now pitching in to assist with crew changes for commercial vessels docked off the Philippine coast and has…

Australian maritime officials have set an end date for interim arrangements permitting seafarers to serve longer than 11 months aboard ships amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.Under the International Labor Organization’s Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) the normal maximum period that a seafarer can serve aboard a vessel without leave is 11 months.Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) general manager of operations, Allan Schwartz, said that while flexibility on the part of regulators was necessary when the COVID-19 pandemic began…

Australian officials have ordered the repatriation of nine Chinese and Filipino seafarers who have been working on board the bulk carrier Brio Faith for nearly two years without relief. The Panama-flagged bulker was inspected Monday in Port Alma, Queensland, where Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) personnel verified that three crew had been on board for over 12 months, four crew had been on board for over 16 months and two crew had been on board for over 20 months.During the inspection the operator Tianjin Shun Xin Yuan Shipping Co LTD assured AMSA, and provided evidence, that crew would be repatriated the following day.On Tuesday, the operator informed AMSA that those repatriation plans had fallen through.