KOCHI: Over 10,000 crew changes were facilitated at the Cochin Port while following all Covid safety protocol since the pandemic outbreak in the country, said port officials. They said they had put all safety measures in place for the embarkment and disembarkment of crew from ships anchoring at the port.
Meanwhile, an official release from the Ministry of Shipping said ports in India facilitated more than 1,00,000 crew change, the highest in the world.
“Crew change consists of replacing a ship’s crew with another and involves ‘sign-on the ships’ and ‘sign-off the ships’ procedures. Maritime sector is among the worst-hit sectors due to the pandemic. Still, all Indian Ports were operational and provided essential services throughout the pandemic. The main pillar for the smooth supply chain for India and world were the seafarers,” said the release.
It said Union Minister of State (I/C) for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya has instructed DG Shipping to come up with robust grievances redressal mechanism to facilitate seafarers. He emphasised that seafarers should be able to approach the ministry during the difficult time and none of them should suffer due to poor redressal system.
“An online utility has been created for the verification of seafarers for charted flights and for uploading details of stranded seafarers along with online ship registrations and online charter licensing,” the release quoted DG Shipping Amitabh Kumar as saying.