Taiwan lifts crew change restrictions

From 13 October Taiwan fully restored visa free entry for nationals to which this applies and visa applications for other countries.

“The R.O.C. (Taiwan) CECC has effectively lifted border controls and eased the pandemic prevention measures as of the 13th Oct 2022.  As a result of this, crew changes can now be resumed,” Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) said in advisory.

Fellow shipping agents GAC went into more details that while there is no quarantine period there is a seven-day period of self-initiated prevention including rapid anti-gen testing.

“For the exchange of crew members in Taiwan, kindly follow the epidemic prevention measures announced by the command center for 7-day self-epidemic prevention after entry,” a notice from GAC said.

A ban on crew change is being maintained at the Taichung CPC LNG Terminal while at the CPC Yung An LNG Plant crew change is allowed but at ban on personnel apart from crew boarding the vessel remains in place.

Taiwan is one of the last places to lift Covid bans on crew change, which caused a huge headache for the industry during the pandemic and left many seafarers stranded onboard ships well beyond their contracts.

The one major exception is mainland China which continues its zero-Covid policies effectively barring international crew change.

Related:Crew change, and Covid restrictions linger for seafarers