Crew changes suspended for ships without cargo operations

29 Jul 2020 / Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s tightened testing and quarantine arrangements for sea crew and air crew members came into effect today (29 July).

From 0:00 hours today, crew change arrangements for all passenger vessels and goods vessels without cargo operations are suspended.

All air crew and incoming sea crew members of goods vessels coming to Hong Kong for cargo operations arriving at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) must obtain a negative result of nucleic acid test for COVID-19 conducted at a recognised laboratory within 48 hours prior to boarding. They must also submit a deep throat saliva specimen at the Temporary Specimen Collection Centre (TSCC) of the Department of Health (DH) upon arrival to Hong Kong for testing purpose. All incoming sea crew members and those air crew members who do not possess negative test results must wait at the TSCC or other designated location until their test results are confirmed negative.

Airlines and shipping companies/agents must arrange point-to-point transfer for the air crew and sea crew members and the use of public transportation which will serve the general public at the same time is prohibited.

Incoming and outgoing sea crew members must only travel between the vessels and HKIA and should not go into the community. Air crew members must self-isolate at their hotel rooms or at home in accordance with the requirements.

Persons who are found to be in breach of the above exemption conditions risk their exemption status being revoked and will be subject to compulsory quarantine for 14 days. They are also subject to a maximum fine of $5,000 and imprisonment for six months.

Airlines and shipping companies/agents should implement all necessary measures to ensure the compliance with the above requirements. Relevant airlines and shipping companies/agents will be held liable for any contravention of the above requirements. For sea crew members, shipping companies/agents which fail to comply with the above conditions will be denied crew change arrangement in Hong Kong for one month. As for air crew, the Government would follow up cases of violation of public health requirements seriously, which includes reviewing the operation arrangements of those airlines in Hong Kong.

For further details and updates, as well as information about operations in Hong Kong, contact GAC Hong Kong at [email protected]

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