We at Gordon & Rees have been asked for advice on crew changes, shipyard calls, threatened longshore stop-work actions, obtaining medical attention ashore for crewmembers and other issues in the COVID-19 environment. We are in contact with the U.S. Coast Guard regarding COVID-19 policies and procedures, both local and national, that affect our shipowner clients.

The primary U.S. Coast Guard sites relating to COVID-19 are linked below. There are restrictions on crew entry to the U.S. from about 30 countries, protocols regarding vessels that arrive at U.S. Ports from the countries on that list with no sick crew members, and protocols re: vessels arriving from those countries with sick crewmembers.

The key provisions as of mid-May cover:

Vessel Control Actions: Presidential Proclamations have placed entry restrictions from persons arriving from or through the following countries: Iran, China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau), the European states within the Schengen Area (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland), United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.

Non-passenger commercial vessels that have been to the countries noted above or embarked crewmembers from the countries noted above within the last 14 days, with no sick crewmembers, will be permitted to enter the U.S. and conduct normal operations, provided that crewmembers remain aboard the vessel except to conduct specific activities directly related to vessel cargo or provisioning operations. U.S. citizens or any other persons listed in Section 2 of Presidential Proclamation “Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Certain Additional Persons Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting 2019 Novel Coronavirus,” for example crewmembers with a transit and/or crewmember visa, may be permitted to disembark the vessel to conduct vessel operations pier side or for the immediate and continuous transit through the U.S. to another country. When entering the U.S. all persons must be cleared by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and, if applicable, CDC. Crewmembers without the appropriate visas will generally be required to remain onboard unless otherwise cleared for entry by CBP and, if applicable, CDC.

Non-passenger commercial vessels that have been to the countries noted above or embarked crewmembers from the countries noted above within the last 14 days, and do have sick crewmembers should expect delays and need to work with local health and port officials prior to entry.

Source: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=71839bf2-49a1-497a-9a39-685891d53124

With states reopening and medical professionals cautiously optimistic about our ability to maintain a flattened COVID-19 curve it might seem tempting to assume a gradual return to normal. But to borrow from the most quotable of statesmen, Winston Churchill, the reality is “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

It is now time to understand—and begin to address—the economic and national security vulnerabilities exposed by COVID-19. Nowhere is this more critical than in the maritime sector. COVID-19 has exposed the inherent risks of a flawed global supply chain that relies on just a handful of countries and a dwindling number of qualified mariners, a situation that demands careful debate and consideration.

As we celebrate Maritime Day, a new generation is preparing to graduate from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Even as they face an uncertain future, we know their service to the nation will be vital.

The nation has long depended on civilian mariners as essential players in our national and economic security, and it is fitting that on Maritime Day we reflect on the challenges we currently face.

On the commercial side of the ledger, seaborne trade has quadrupled over the last forty years while the U.S. Merchant Marine fleet has dwindled, from 1,288 international trading vessels in 1951 to around 80 today. Likewise, from operating nearly two-thirds of the world’s shipping in 1946, today U.S.-flag vessels carry around two percent of the goods to and from U.S. ports each year.

Of course, our vulnerabilities are more than economic.

In times of war, the Merchant Marine is often called upon to deliver military personnel and materiel. From the 11,500 merchant mariners, now interred in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Park, captured and starved by British Forces during the American Revolution, to World War II, in which merchant mariners suffered a casualty rate higher than that of any branch of service and 142 USMMA cadets gave their lives, to 9/11 when merchant mariners undertook the largest rescue operation in history, the Merchant Marine has long been a vital component of our national security.

The consequences of a shrinking U.S.-flagged fleet surfaced during Operation Desert Storm, when the U.S. was forced to rely on countries like Saudi Arabia and Japan to provide ships and cargo space to assist in the sealift effort. Unfortunately, several foreign-flag ships committed to participating in the sealift refused to enter the Persian Gulf and removed their ships from the war zone altogether.

In the wake of COVID-19, we’ve seen critical shortages and disruptions to global supply chains—deeply troubling evidence of our vulnerability. Other nations have seen the signs and are acting. France recently announced that it was reevaluating its supply chains to become less dependent on China and other Asian nations.

We cannot remain idle. America cannot win a war–economic or military–without a viable merchant fleet or qualified mariners. We know because this is the very reason the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy was dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943.

Our graduates play a vital role in maintaining both the maritime strength and the security of the nation, making up more than 80 percent of the U.S. Navy Reserve Strategic Sealift Officer force. Each one of them has committed to serve their country for eight years. Every graduate earns an unlimited merchant marine officer’s license as a third mate or third assistant engineer and stands ready and willing to serve the moment they graduate – and the most effective way they can do that is by being part of a strong, modern Merchant Marine.

These issues are 50 years in the making and will not be solved overnight. But now that we’ve realized the pandemic has afforded us an opportunity to identify vulnerabilities, we have an obligation to act: out of respect for our long history as a maritime power and because it is in our own best interest now more than ever.

Captain Jim Tobin is the President of the USMMA Alumni Association and Foundation.

Source: https://www.maritime-executive.com/editorials/national-maritime-day-reflections-in-the-era-of-covid-19

International trade has contributed immensely to the rise in welfare since the end of WWII. Global trade is facilitated through worldwide transport networks. These networks are the catalysts for production linkages that allow for a more efficient allocation of resources through exploitation of comparative advantage and economies of scale.

However, the same transport networks are also responsible for the transmission of diseases. Over the last 300 years, ten major influenza pandemics have occurred – not counting COVID-19. The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic is considered the most severe to date: around 30% of the world’s population became ill and 40–50 million people died (Aassve et al. 2020). One important reason the Spanish flu was so much more deadly than previous pandemics was its quick and extensive spread, enabled by the global transport system (e.g. Rodrigue et al. 2020). The virus spread around the world through infected crew and passengers on ships and trains.

Recognising that transportation is an important vector of transmission, it comes as no surprise that as COVID-19 hit, the sector was one of the first to face significant restrictions. Needless to say, disruptions in the continuity of freight distribution will damage vital supply chains and add to the disruptions that the manufacturing sector is already experiencing (Baldwin and Tomiura 2020).

In a newly published analysis (Heiland and Ulltveit-Moe 2020) we take a closer look at seaborne transportation, which carries 80% of world merchandise trade. We use real-time satellite date to investigate what has happened so far to sailing routes and networks, and discuss the impact of the restrictions implemented in response to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The global shipping network

The global shipping network carries the majority of internationally traded goods. In a recent study (Heiland et al. 2019), we use satellite data on container ships (Cosar and Demir 2017) to establish a set of key facts about the transportation network. First, we show that container trade is highly concentrated on a small set of routes. Only 6% of all countries with container ports entertain direct shipping connections. All other countries’ shipping connections involve a stop in at least one other country. Second, a few central ports acting as hubs in the sparse network handle huge chunks of global seaborne trade, originating from and destined to countries all over the world.

Table 1 provides an overview of the ten most central ports in the world. Column 4 shows that for 3,517 trade relationships (a pair of one exporter and one importer located anywhere on the globe) the fastest connection within the network of active shipping routes passes through the Port of Singapore. Trade between these countries accounts for 32% of global trade (Column 5).

Table 1 Top 10 ports in terms of direct connections and their importance for global trade

Source: Authors’ calculations

The upshot of all this is straightforward and important for world trade in the time of COVID-19. The negative effect of local COVID-19-related restrictions reach beyond the country imposing the restrictions and even beyond its direct trading partners, as disruptions are propagated through the network of interconnected shipping lines. The more central a port is in the shipping network, the more wide-ranging are the consequences of its restrictions for international trade. As we write in the week of 14 April 2020, all countries in the top-ten list had tightened the rules governing the mobility of sailors on incoming ships.

COVID-19 restrictions towards sea transport

Port restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak are typically related to whether the vessel’s previous port call was from a COVID-19 high-risk country, to crew who embarked from COVID-19 high-risk countries, and to crew changes and shore leave.

Changing crew is essential for a shipping company to comply with work contracts and labour regulation. In normal times, around 100,000 crew changes take place every month (Daniel 2020). Currently, however, 120 of 126 countries have implemented restrictions on crew change: in 92 countries crew change is prohibited, while in 28 countries crew change is subject to screening and approval from the authorities (Inchcape Shipping Services 2020).

Due to these restrictions, vessels have become ‘floating quarantined zones’, as countries refuse to allow ships to enter their ports until the crew has been declared virus-free. In most countries, the normal quarantine time is 14 days.¹ On 16 April, there were 14,851 cargo ships on their way around the world. Only one-third of these ships were on voyages estimated to take 14 days or more. Hence, there is little doubt that port restrictions have a severe impact on transportation and supply chains.

What satellite data tell us about the impact of COVID-19 on sea transport

To complement the mounting anecdotal evidence on cancelled – blanked – sailings and disruptions to the maritime transportation network, we use satellite data for ship traffic provided by the Norwegian Coastal Administration in real time to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and the restrictions imposed to impede transmission.

Figure 1 shows the number of weekly departures from Norwegian ports year-to-date (7 April)² for 2019 and 2020 for all ships and three big market segments: container ships, other cargo ships, and cruise ships.

Figure 1 Weekly departures from Norwegian ports, 2020 vs 2019

Notes: The figures show the number of ships departing from Norwegian ports in the week ending with the date displayed on the horizontal axis. Cargo ships in the lower-left panel refer to non-containerised cargo ships.

Figure 1 shows the seasonality and volatility that is a general characteristic of shipping activity through the year. This is driven by external factors such as holidays, weather, and orders. However, we observe that the COVID-19 pandemic had a clear effect on sea transportation for all ship types. Focusing on cargo ships, sailings are down in 2020 already from the beginning of the year. This is most likely due to the outbreak in China and the shutdown of production that followed. As COVID-19 reached the western hemisphere and triggered lockdowns across the globe from mid-March, the picture becomes grimmer for container ships, carrying merchandise goods, and even more so for cruise ships.

In mid-April, after a few weeks of global lockdown, the cruise industry stands out with a dramatic fall, but sea transportation of cargo has also been substantially hit. The departure of all ships in the first week of April 2020 was down 20% compared to 2019, while the decrease in container-ship departures was 29%.

Next, we look at sailings by destination. Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the change in the number of sailings for bulk and container ships before and after 12 March 2020, which was the day the Norwegian government introduced tight restrictions on movement and activity. The date of the Norwegian lockdown coincides roughly with the dates a majority of western countries entered lockdown. We observe that for the majority of destinations, sailings are down after mid-March.

Figure 2 Change in departures of bulk ships post vs pre COVID-19 restrictions

Note: The pre (post) period spans 35 days prior to (starting on) March 12. Source: https://kystdatahuset.no/avganger-per-dag. Accessed 16/04/2020.

Figure 3 Change in departures of container ships post vs pre-COVID-19 restrictions

Note. The pre (post) period spans 35 days prior to (starting on) 12 March 2020. Source: https://kystdatahuset.no/avganger-per-dag. Accessed 16 April 2020.

To establish causality and filter out trends in shipping unrelated to the COVID-19 crisis, we conduct a difference-in-difference estimation. Comparing the change in the number of departures in the five weeks prior to and five weeks after 12 March across the years 2020, 2019, and 2018, we find that in 2020 the number of ships dropped by 6% compared to the change observed in previous years. For container ships, the difference is -8%; for cargo ships, the drop is 3%. Tanker traffic, which also suffers from the concurrent turbulences in the oil market, is down 16%.

Lastly, we analyse whether countries’ restrictions towards sea transportation are responsible for the decline in shipping activity using cross-country information on crew change restrictions (Inchcape Shipping Services 2020). The results are striking. For container ships, we find that sailings to destinations where crew changes are prohibited are down by almost 20% for container ships, as compared to a decline of 6% to destinations which have imposed milder restrictions, such as screening rules.

Concluding remarks

International trade and global production networks are heavily reliant on the smooth operation of maritime transport. As the world faces the COVID-19 pandemic, operations are anything but smooth.

Sea transport weathered many crises in the past. According to Stopford (2007), seaborne trade experienced deep but v-shaped contractions in all major economic crises. In the most recent global crisis of 2009, seaborne trade fell by 4.5% (UNCTAD 2011).

Is the current crisis different? It certainly is unprecedented in that it attacks the shipping industry on two fronts at the same time. Besides a steep contraction in demand, the industry is also faced with regulatory constraints disrupting its operations in almost all ports. The detrimental effects of local disruptions are multiplied as they spread through the network of interconnected shipping lines.

As pointed out by, among others, Bekkers et al. (2020), the outlook for international trade in 2020 is bleak. Our analysis shows that we need flexible port regulations based on screening and discretion in order to ensure the continuity of freight distribution and to secure that supply chains do not get a double hit.

References

Aassve, A, G Alfani, F Gandolfi and M Le Moglie (2020), “Pandemics and social capital: From the Spanish flu of 1918-19 to COVID-19”, VoxEU.org, 22 March.

Baldwin, R and E Tomiura (2020), “Thinking ahead about the impact of COVID-19”, in Baldwin, R and B Weder di Mauro (eds), Economics in the time of COVID-19, CEPR Press

Bekkers, E, A Keck, R  Koopman and C Nee (2020), “Trade and COVID-19: The WTO’s 2020 and 2021 trade forecast”, VoxeEU.org, 24 April 24.

Cosar, K and B Demir (2017), “Containers and globalisation: Estimating the cost structure of maritime shipping”, VoxEU.org, 13 June.

Daniel, A (2020), “The ship must go on”, Windward, 26 March.

European Commission (2020), “Communication from the Commission: Guidelines on protection of health, repatriation and travel arrangements for seafarers, passengers and other persons on board ships”, C(2020) 3100 final.

Heiland, I, A Moxnes, K H Ulltveit-Moe and Y Zi (2019), “Trade from Space: Shipping networks and the global implications of local shocks”, CEPR Discussion Paper 14193.

Heiland, I and K H Ulltveit-Moe (2020): “An unintended crisis in sea transportation due to COVID-19 restrictions”, in Baldwin, R E and S J Evenett (eds), COVID-19 and Trade Policy: Why Turning Inward Won’t Work, CEPR Press

Inchcape Shipping Services (2020), “Coronavirus (COVID-19) port/country implications”.

International Maritime Organization (2020), “Coronavirus (COVID-19): Preliminary list of recommendations for Governments and relevant national authorities on the facilitation of maritime trade during the COVID-19 pandemic”, Circular Letter No. 4204/Add. 6, 27 March.

Rodrigue, J-P, and M Osterholm (2020), “Transportation and pandemics”, in J-P Rodrigue (ed.), The Geography of Transport Systems, New York: Routledge.

Stopford, M (2007), “Will the next 50 years be as chaotic in shipping as the last?”, paper presented at the Hong Kong Shipowners Association 50th Anniversary Analysts’ lunch, 18 January.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2011), “Review of maritime transport 2010”.

Endnotes

1 Reported by CNN Business, London, 20 February 2020.

2 Week 15 starting on 8 April was dropped since it included the Easter holidays in 2020, but not in 2019.

Source: https://voxeu.org/article/covid-19-restrictions-hit-sea-transportation

The novel coronavirus which causes COVID-19 first broke out in the port city of Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The economic impact of the global lockdown is harshly felt, with the global freight and shipping industry being the biggest casualties. Global shipping markets have now declined, with the collapse in demand for goods from China having an effect on everything from container ships to oil tankers. Demand has dropped across the board, including at ports, the trucking industry, and the shipping industry. The subdued global demand is also evident in the decline in oil prices, which has had a negative impact on the offshore and onshore oil and gas industry.

Due to the slowdown in demand in the shipping industry, many ports have experienced a reduction in the number of vessels calling due to the rescheduling of itineraries, as a result of the decrease in cargo volumes. Some ports are experiencing a decline in exports because of the closure of destination ports in Asia and Europe. Container ships sit idle around the world, reminiscent of the global financial crisis of 2008.

A recent survey conducted by the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) on global ports reports that over 40 percent have experienced moderate decreases (minus 5% to 25%) and in some ports significant decreases (in excess of 25%) in the number of vessel calls. With China being the first country to institute a lockdown, global demand weakened and the slump for goods from China has had a ripple effect on container ships across the globe.

Locating South Africa in the COVID-19 conundrum

The SA government announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown effective March 27, and it was later extended to the end of April 2020. This was followed by a schedule of alert and response levels introduced May 1. With this lockdown came a ban on cruise ships docking at SA sea ports and a ban on crew changes, with the restrictions on cruise shipping having a significant impact on the tourism industry. Although none of the country’s eight seaports were closed, goods coming in from high risk countries had to be sanitized at first. This called for changes in terminal operations to scale down transportation services and operations of non-essential cargo, which included closure of all automotive and multipurpose terminals at the ports of East London, Saldanha, Port Elizabeth and Maydon Wharf in Durban, with single berth for handling essential break-bulk goods and containers.

The warehousing and distribution activities at SA ports saw changes due to the fall in demand for consumer products owing to the lockdown measures. This has led to an adverse effect on total output; it is estimated that port operations have been operating at 60 percent capacity during this lockdown period.

Given that COVID-19 is likely to reduce demand and disrupt normal business operations, the SA Reserve bank projects the economy to contract by 0.2 percent in 2020, then rise by 1.0 percent in 2021 and 1.6 percent in 2022. The scope of COVID-19-induced economic disruption on the SA economy is wide. In particular, as China is South Africa’s largest trading partner, SA is exposed to any disruption in China’s import and export activities.

There is mounting evidence that COVID-19 has also reduced SA exports and adversely affected jobs numbers. In the initial lockdown regulations, exporting of wine was considered non-essential, which effectively placed a ban on the export of bulk and packaged wine. The unintended outcome of this ban is the unfortunate loss of income for 4,000 farmworkers across SA’s wine farms, exacerbating the already high unemployment rate.

Sector and policy response 

Given the globalized nature of the pandemic, a global response is required. Thus far, global public health response to COVID-19 has been bold and commendable with the charge being led by respective governments. To minimize the economic impact of COVID-19, the SA government employed various fiscal and monetary policy measures, including increased liquidity into the domestic market to stimulate credit demand and increased fiscal reprioritization towards social security measures.

From a sector perspective, more needs to be done, especially about the restrictions on crew changes at seaports. Sector representations need to be made to the government about the necessity to ease the restrictions on crew changes. These representations will have to be coordinated to avoid duplication and overlapping, and institutions such as the SA Maritime Safety Authority might be able to lead the coordination of a sectoral response. While the need to limit social interaction and maintaining social distancing is understandable, it cannot come at the expense of seafarer crew members who are stuck onshore or at sea. Mass testing of workers currently at work and returning to work will have to be considered, especially upon the re-opening of the closed terminals in phases.

Despite the pandemic’s devastating impact, the global economy needs to keep running. The South African government will have to strike a careful balance in preserving public health without compromising the country’s capacity to participate in international maritime trade.

SAIMI (South African International Maritime Institute) is funded by the South African Department of Higher Education, Science & Technology (DHEST). SAIMI coordinates maritime skills development, education, research and innovation to support growing South Africa’s maritime economy. It has its headquarters at Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, and it works nationally with stakeholders in maritime education, industry and government.

Source: https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-south-africa-s-maritime-economy

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented crisis practically grinding the world’s economies to a halt and which in turn impacted the backbone of the world trade, the maritime industry. The impact on maritime business is wide-ranging. Lars Jensen, CEO of the Copenhagen-based provider of container shipping analysis SeaIntelligence Consulting estimated that 17 million TEU would eventually be taken out of service globally this year, whilst ports and terminals may suffer a loss of 80 million TEU of handling volume. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit China’s supply crunch, it has resulted in a ripple effect in the global maritime industry whereby the EU and the US were left with insufficient transport capacity for exports out of China. Furthermore, companies wishing to export goods out of China have been faced with a depletion of air freight capacity.

As a result, consumers have been faced with changing their purchasing habits due to the fear of exposure to the virus. Consequently, a great deal of consumers shifted to purchasing goods locally as opposed to goods from other jurisdictions due to the logistics network of imported goods. The risk for disruption in the supply chain is therefore apparent which underscores the necessity to have smart and adaptive supply chains that utilise modern technology to support the supply chain and avoid any obstructions that may occur.

Disrupted supply chains may be the first adverse impact that comes to mind. Yet the complexity and multi-faceted maritime industry has been facing several more challenges on all fronts, namely crew changes and cruise liners.

Seafarers

Seafarers are essential for the movement of goods globally and are considered to be on the frontline of this global calamity. Seafarers have been faced with situations whereby they are required to stay onboard the vessel for longer periods than their original scheduled shift, and sometimes travel to different ports in countries affected by COVID-19, due to various countries imposing restrictions on change of crew unless absolutely necessary. As a result, some authorities are authorising extensions of seafarers service periods beyond the maximum 11 months’ time period permitted under the Maritime Labour Convention, only where strictly necessary to contain the spread of the virus. Disembarkation is not the only problem in crew changes. Seafarers who are currently awaiting deployment are concerned about possible delays in embarkation and postponement of income.

Similar to their overseas counterpart, locally seafarers’ services as established in the Seafarer’s Employment Agreement in terms of the Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention) Rules, may be extended for a maximum period of three months due to issues in repatriation. A seafarer who has a valid Certificate of Competency issued by a foreign administration that also has a Flag State Endorsement issued in terms of the Merchant Shipping Act and of the STCW Convention, may request to have the validity of their Flag State Endorsement extended beyond their expiry date should it expire during an extended period onboard.

Cruise liners

Cruise liner companies have been hard hit as they have experienced difficulties when arriving at their scheduled ports. Cruise ships have been stranded at sea, unable to dock at various ports of the world as they were denied entry, travelling along the seas scrambling for safe harbour. Since passengers and crew were denied authorisation to disembark, they were forced to remain in quarantine onboard the vessels finding difficulty in returning home. U.S. cruise liners have already faced costs amounting to nearly $750 million since January as numerous voyages primarily to Asia and the rest of the world have been cancelled. The Cruise Lines International Association had originally suspended operations from US ports for 30 days, however, major cruise liners proposed to restart their operations after the summer season, while other cruise liners have extended their cruising ban even further.

Worse still, a number of passengers and crew tested positive to COVID-19. One of the worst outbreaks of the virus onboard a cruise liner was that on the Diamond Princess, whereby the ship was placed under quarantine as soon as a passenger who had disembarked from the ship tested positive for the virus. The Diamond Princess was placed under lockdown with passengers confined to their cabins for a minimum of 2 weeks. It was reported that a total of over 700 people were infected and resulted in 13 fatalities.

In accordance with Port Notice 5 of 2020, Transport Malta has imposed a temporary indefinite ban on the entry of cruise liners and passenger ships into Maltese ports and territorial waters. By virtue of Legal Notice 92 of 2020, the Superintendent of Public Health extended the existing travel ban on persons to and from Malta whether by air or by sea. However, for obvious reasons this ban has not been imposed over cargo flights, ferry flights, humanitarian flights, repatriation flights and cargo ships, container ships and ro-ro vessels carrying goods and essential commodities and tankers loaded with essential fuels.

Cruise liners may suffer a long term hit following the end of the pandemic as it may undermine people’s confidence in going on cruise liners in the future as travellers may remain fearful of staying in a confined space. Cruise liner companies might therefore have to implement extra measures to win back the confidence of passengers which will require heavy investment at a time in which the industry is already struggling and will prove to be one of the most testing challenges the cruise liners will face.

The local scene: Transport Malta’s response to COVID-19

Transport Malta published a suggestive list of preventive measures which could be adopted by ship operators with the scope of minimising the spread of the novel coronavirus outbreak, such as ensuring all crew are fully aware of how the virus may be spread. Furthermore, ship agents, operators and masters of the ship are obliged, in terms of International Health Regulations, to immediately report any symptoms of the virus to the next port of call Port Health Medic doctor if there is a suspected COVID-19 diagnosis to ensure the safety of all crew until the potential patient is seen to by a medical professional. Transport Malta has advised that strict hygiene on board vessels should be followed at all times. However, since the crew of vessels live in close quarters to each other, stronger measures were needed since social distancing is a harder task to achieve.

In accordance with Port Notice 6 of 2020, crew members are not allowed to disembark from the vessel throughout the duration of its call in Maltese waters and ports. Additionally, shore personnel are only permitted to board vessels if they are in possession of written authorisation from the Port Health Medic. Furthermore, prior to entry in a port, ships are required to provide the Port Health Office with information regarding ports of call of affected countries.

Transport Malta adopted preventive measures in the early stages of the pandemic reaching the Maltese islands in order to minimise the impact of COVID-19 on the maritime industry and in order to ensure an uninterrupted service is provided to the Maltese shipping community under the current exceptional circumstance. With respect to commercial vessel activities, Transport Malta has temporarily extended the expiry of certifications, registrations and permits of commercial vessels, small ships and moorings, including registration of small ships, nautical licenses, certification of commercial vessels, certification of competency and mooring permits provided that the boat owner is in possession of a valid insurance policy. To further assist the shipping industry Transport Malta took the economic measure of deferring the due payment of the respective registration fees and annual tonnage tax by a period of three months from the anniversary with respect to those whereby the anniversary falls on or after 1 April 2020.

In order to better assist the teleworking measures adopted by local companies and to lessen physical contact, Transport Malta have also facilitated its services by introducing online services regarding yacht and boat registration under the Valletta Registry. The online services range from renewal of certification of registry, provisional and permanent registration, transfer of ownership, online payments, and other ancillary services.

Although the world has been facing a reality check through the COVID-19 instigated lockdown, the world remains largely connected through world trade proving the extraordinary strength and tenacity of the maritime industry in sustaining global supply chains in these unprecedented times. Furthermore, this pandemic may also act as a catalyst to spur further innovation in the maritime sector to undertake thorough amendments to limit their carbon footprint.

Source: https://www.mondaq.com/marine-shipping/939040/the-covid19-shock-waves-to-the-shipping-industry

In its latest research, Euroconsult projects that the previously growing maritime connectivity market will experience a significant setback due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Maritime VSAT connectivity reached an all-time high of 28,200 connected vessels at the end of 2019 but because of the current health crisis, the previous projection of 49,300 terminals by 2023 has been reduced to 40,600 units.

In 2019, the Maritime satellite VSAT communications market experienced high growth with the total number of terminals increasing by 17.5 percent year over year, and VSAT services revenue growing by 11 percent to approach $1.3 billion. Increasing demand from passengers, as well as regulatory pressure on communications and crew welfare were major factors pushing maritime operators to install new generation satellite systems on their vessels.

“Despite the current setback, the fundamentals of maritime connectivity should continue to apply, with strong demand from the shipping industry as well as for leisure and business connectivity and operational applications,” said Pacôme Révillon, CEO of Euroconsult. “In light of technology advances and the appetite for applications and bandwidth we expect the industry to return to growth in two years’ time.”

The research, titled Prospects for Maritime Satellite Communications, provides detailed analysis of five market segments including merchant shipping, the cruise industry, offshore energy production, fishing, and private yachting, all of which are expected to reflect some slowing in the current environment. Merchant shipping is the largest market segment for VSAT with 17,700 connected vessels and revenues of $565 million in 2019.

“Because of the current limits on international trade and the economic downturn resulting from the pandemic, new ship deliveries and the subsequent VSAT installations they entail are forecast to slow,” said Xavier Lansel, Senior Consultant at Euroconsult and Editor of the “Prospects for Maritime Satellite Communications” research. “Despite the presence of fixed contracts, docked vessels will likely result in a lower average revenue per user for connectivity services.”

The cruise industry was also a major demand driver for maritime satellite connectivity. In some cases, service provider revenues reached $110,000 per month for the largest cruise ships. This is expected to be the market segment most impacted by the current health environment, with most ships temporarily docked.

Euroconsult forecasts that the cruise industry slowdown will continue for several years prompting cost-reductions and delaying demand for new vessels. Even as fast internet connectivity has become a requirement for cruise ship passengers there will be a sharp decrease in VSAT services revenue in 2020, and projections are that it will take until 2025 for revenues to reach 2019 levels again.

Source: https://advanced-television.com/2020/05/21/research-maritime-connectivity-faces-covid-19-setback/