The Club has further recommended banning purchases of food supplies, particularly meat, and ensuring crew are as vigilant as possible against unauthorised access to vessels.
“A master whose vessel has visited an ebola area and who suspects a crew member may be infected should seek urgent medical advice,” said North P&I Club head of loss prevention Tony Baker. “Where it is not possible to disembark crew members exhibiting ebola symptoms, it is recommended they are restricted to their cabin and have minimal contact with the rest of the crew for at least 21 days. Strict quarantine procedures will need to be put in place on board and masters should follow expert medical advice in such circumstances.”
Further, North has recommended that shipowners agree to apportion risk between themselves and charterers, when agreeing new charterparties which require vessels to call at ebola-affected countries, in order to protect themselves against legal action in the event of delays or crew sickness.
“The situation is less clear under existing charterparties and shipowners need to consider their position carefully,” said Baker, highlighting the recent guidance given by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and IMO, and backed by the Liberian Registry earlier today.
“If the decision is taken to trade to an affected area, members should develop a plan that takes into account WHO and industry advice and includes guidelines for the vessel to minimise the risk of infection and to deal with potentially infected crew members,” Baker concluded.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited. Add Seatrade Maritime News to your Google News feed.
