Page 6 - 2021 - Q3 - Minerva in Focus

NEWS

News

Hour

Singapore launches
the Sea Crew Vaccination

Initiative

#crewvaccination

As part of the overall plan to strengthen
the community’s resilience to COVID-19
and its port waters activities against the
pandemic, Singapore rolled out the Sea to eligible foreign sea crew, subject to This means annual shipping losses were
Crew Vaccination Initiative, or SEAVAX. availability. halved over the past decade (2011 - 98),
Vaccinating sea crew will provide an ad- although 2020 was the first time in five
ditional level of protection to onshore Source: Maritime and Port Authority of years losses have not declined, suggesting
workers and passengers who may interact Singapore the Safety loss total could be stabilizing
with them. This was announced by Mr. around the minimum level.
for Transport, at the opening of this year’s The shipping sector The 2020 loss represents a significant
Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State
improvement on the rolling 10-year loss
International Safety@Sea Week. continued its long‑term average (88), reflecting the positive effect
As a major transhipment and bunkering of an increased focus on safety measures
hub in one of the world’s major shipping positive safety trend over time, such as regulation, improved
lanes, Singapore will play its part in the ship design and technology, and advances
global initiative to vaccinate seafarers. through 2020 in risk management.
Under the new SEAVAX initiative, eligible South China, Indochina, Indonesia, and
groups of non-resident foreign sea crew #safety the Philippines are the global loss hot-
will be offered COVID-19 vaccination on a spot, accounting for a third of all losses
voluntary basis from 30 August 2021. These in 2020 (16), with incidents up slightly
include: year-on-year (2019: 14). The East Medi-
• Sea crew in Singapore with stays terranean and Black Sea (7) and Arabian
of more than 30 days, who work on Gulf (4) regions saw significant increases
board homeported cruise ships, in loss activity, ranking second and third.
ships under repair in shipyards, and Southeast Asian waters have also been a
yachts at marinas used for events, major loss location in the past decade (224
cruises, and private charter. incidents), driven by a number of factors,
• Sea crew who work on board fishing including high levels of local and inter-
vessels, ship supply vessels, and The international shipping industry is national trade, congested ports and busy
regional ferries enter and leave responsible for carrying around 90% of shipping lanes, older fleets, and exposure
Singapore’s waters at least once a world trade, so the safety of vessels is to extreme weather. Together, the South
month, providing essential services critical. In its annual Safety and Shipping China, Indochina, Indonesia and Philip-
such as the provision of ship sup- Review report, Allianz Global Corporate & pines, East Mediterranean and Black Sea,
plies, transportation of food and Specialty (AGCS) says that the sector con- and Japan, Korea, and North China mar-
raw materials, as well as ferrying tinued its long-term positive safety trend itime regions account for half of the 876
passengers. through 2020, with the number of reported shipping losses of the past ten years (437).
The Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty or Mod- total losses of over 100GT remaining sta-
erna COVID-19 vaccines will be offered ble at 49 compared with 48 a year earlier. Source: Allianz
4 MINERVA IN FOCUS – ISSUE 17 / Q3 2021