Updated regulations for crew changes

06 May 2021 / Singapore

Crew change applications in Singapore must now be submitted 21 days in advance or more against vessel’s ETA.

In general, signing-on crew are required to serve 21-day Stay-Home-Notice (SHN) in their originating country/region in the period immediately prior to his/her departure flight/ferry to Singapore. The crew should be completely isolated in a room with a dedicated toilet with strictly no interaction with others (including family members) at theirr place of residence, or serve the SHN in a dedicated facility/hotel.

Crew from specific low risk countries/regions will either not be required to serve the SHN or serve a shorter SHN of 7 days in their originating country/region prior to departure for Singapore. Please refer to ICA’s website (https://safetravel.ica.gov.sg/files/SHN-and-swab-summary.pdf) for the latest list of low risk countries/regions where no or 7-day SHN is imposed.

The Singapore Shipping Tripartite Alliance Resilience Fund Taskforce (SFTF) has developed a CrewSafe audit programme that endeavours to assist crew source nations to bring a higher level of confidence and quality control checks into crew change processes such as quarantine/holding, medical and swabbing facilities. Please refer to https://www.ssa.org.sg/mediaimg/publications/sg-star-fund-crewsafe-facilities.html for more information regarding the CrewSafe audit programme and a list of CrewSafe accredited facilities.

For signing-on crew who undergo the protocol under these CrewSafe accredited facilities located overseas, crew change application may be given the following concessions:
a) Submission of crew change application must be made at least 7 days in advance, instead of 21 days.
b) If a sign-on crew undergoing the CrewSafe protocol is cancelled, direct replacement for this crew will be allowed if the replacement has been undergoing CrewSafe protocol for the same required duration, instead of having to re-submit a new application and re-start the process.
c) At Singapore, sign-on crew who had undergone the CrewSafe protocol may stay at the designated holding facilities for up to 5 days (instead of 3 days), if required.

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

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