COVID-19 updates (21 August)

21 Aug 2020 / Cape Town, Durban, South Africa

(1) Foreign crew changes may only take place at the port of Cape Town and at the port of Durban, under the following conditions:

(a) A request for crew changes must be completed by a shipping company or its representative on a stipulated form and submitted at least 96 hours (four days) prior to the crew change, to the Department of Transport;

(b) the form referred to in paragraph (a) must be accompanied by a detailed crew list, which also specifies the signing -on crew and signing -off crew.

(c) the crew must comply with all the travel requirements and health protocols at ports of entry;

(d) crew changes may take place at port and off port limits;

(e) signing -on crew may directly transit from the airport to board the vessel: Provided that, if a layover is necessary, the crew must be quarantined as per the Port Health Protocol at the employer's costs and the name of the quarantine facility must be specified in the form referred to in paragraph (a); and

(f) signing -on and signing -off crew may only in exceptional circumstances be permitted to layover.

(2) Cruise ships are prohibited from calling at any of the South African ports, except for the disembarkation of returning -

(a) South African crew; or

(b) South African citizens or holders of permanent residence permits.

(3) South African citizens and holders of permanent residence permits are advised to refrain from making use of international maritime transport or cruise ships.

Source: Government Gazette, Republic of South Africa, Vol. 662, No. 43629

Note: South Africa is still in level 2 lockdown and international flights are currently not permitted. Any crew change will have to be carried out via chartered flights, but these are very limited at the moment.

(For more information, please contact GAC Cape Town at [email protected] or GAC Durban at [email protected]

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