Commencement of bulk crew changes

21 Dec 2020 / Sri Lanka

Bulk crew changes of international seafarers in Sri Lanka commence from tomorrow (22 December) through the Offshore Crew Transit Hub (OCTH) operated by a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP).

The crew transit hub is a passenger vessel stationed in Sri Lankan territorial waters providing a temporary stay for seafarers during bulk crew change operations. The crew changes taken place through the OCTH should be only on the basis of direct bulk crew changes facilitated via chartered flights from/ to Mattala International Airport (MRIA).

The PPP require at least 96 hours to process requests and make arrangements for crew changes.

Disembarking Crew:
Crew disembarking from a vessel will be sent directly to the OCTH and, once the charter flights are available, will be transferred directly to the airport for repatriation.
Where required for seafarers returning to their home country, PCR tests will be conducted on board the OCTH.
If any seafarer becomes tests positive for COVID-19, provision for treatment should be made in the designated intermediate care facility.

Embarking Crew:
On-signers who arrive to the country by charter flight will be sent directly to the OCTH from the airport and then embarked to their vessels as per the schedule.
PCR test should be done for every on-signer within 72 hours before boarding their flight and should be made available to respective Port Health Officer (PHO) prior to landing in Sri Lanka.

Since the seafarers are directly transferred from airport to the OCTH and vice versa, they are exempted from PCR testing conducted at the Points of Entry (unless in any other conditions specified on the SOP).

Crew changes will be done under the supervision of Sri Lanka Navy and they should escort crew transport vehicles.

Scheduled charter flights are available for seafarers between Male and Dubai Airports and MRIA. Exclusive charter flights can be arranged as per requirement, but crew changes must follow the above procedure.

Foreign crew embarkation/disembarkation via commercial flights is still not permitted in Sri Lanka.

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

If quoting any content from Hot Port News, please cite GAC Hot Port News as the source.