To ensure the supply of strategic goods, the ports of Madagascar will continue to receive ships transporting goods by respecting the following procedures:
- Upstream procedure before the arrival of the ship, reception and check of information file about the ship, its journey and crew remain in force and must be carried out meticulously. The shipboard and consignee or representative of the shipowner must supply the same to the competent authorities at least 5 days in advance.
- As the roads approach, the ship captain must contact the port authority to confirm by radio the health situation of crew on board.
- Right from the arrival of the ship on roads and without waiting 14 days, the health vigilance centre team will board with their complete PPE to carry out health control of the crew:
a. If there is no suspicious case, the health vigilance team will authorize free pratique and the pilot provided with complete PPE kit will board to carry out ship docking;
b. If there are any suspicious cases on board, the concerned crew member(s) should be confined to a cabin on board. Once confinement measures come into effect, the pilot with complete PPE kit may board to bring the ship alongside.
- In all cases, crew confinement must come into effect before any intervention of port workers with the ship, if necessary. They must be equipped with complete PPE kit and respect the distances and conduct to ensure protection from CPVID-19. As much as possible, direct contact with the shipboard is inadvisable.
- Crew members cannot leave the ship or the port.
- Disinfection of containers containing goods should be ensured.
- The Ministry of Public Health, through its Regional Directorate with the port localities, will put at disposal of the local border health vigilance centre and members of the boarding and inspection community, a sufficient number of complete PPE kits.
- Doctors and paramedics must be organised to reinforce and back up the border health vigilance team.
- Elements of the National Gendarmerie, port brigades and National Police Force of the port Special Police Station must ensure permanent surveillance of port perimeters.
For further details and updates, as well as information about operations in Madagascar, contact the GAC Dubai Hub Agency Centre at [email protected]