As a global hub port and international maritime centre, Singapore is committed to facilitate successful crew changes in a safe manner. Singapore has been facilitating crew change of all nationalities from ships of different flags, during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Crew Facilitation Centre

To further enable crew change to take place safely in Singapore, a Crew Facilitation Centre (CFC) was set-up on 1st September at the Tanjong Pagar Terminal by MPA, with the support of PSA Singapore, using its existing floating accommodations. It is a self-contained facility with an onsite medical centre, testing and holding facilities. The facility is dedicated to sign-on crew and will house the crew for up to 72 hours prior to them boarding their ships when their ship and flight schedule do not match.The CFC will facilitate more crew change to take place in Singapore and keep both the ships and local community safe. Sign-off crew, based on current procedures, will proceed to depart Singapore or stay at existing designated holding facilities Seacare Hotel for up to 72 hours, and be strictly segregated from the community.

The Singapore Shipping Tripartite Alliance Resilience (SG-STAR) Fund is the first global ground-up tripartite initiative with international partners including the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), the International Maritime Employers' Council (IMEC) and the International Chamber of Shipping, to work with stakeholders in seafaring nations on concrete solutions for safe crew changes.

The SG-STAR Fund which was established by MPA, Singapore Shipping Association, Singapore Maritime Officers' Union, and Singapore Organisation of Seamen supported by International Maritime Organization and International Labour Organization is recently joined with support from more international organisations – Global Maritime Forum Maritime Industry Crew Change Taskforce, INTERTANKO, Norwegian Shipowners' Association, and World Shipping Council, as well as seven port authorities from Abu Dhabi, Antwerp, Barcelona, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Sines, and Vancouver.

The SG-STAR Fund Taskforce (SFTF) has developed a CrewSafe audit programme based on Singapore's crew change model, to establish safe and scalable 'corridors' for crew change. This will help ensure quality checks on quarantine/holding, medical and swabbing facilities in crew-supplying countries.

The SFTF has appointed auditors to conduct assessments at the recently inaugurated IMEC-ITF safe quarantine processes and facilities in Manila, Philippines, namely St. Giles Hotel and Marriot Hotel, as well as the safe quarantine processes by the Norwegian Shipowners' Association at Marriot Hotel and the AMOSUP Seamen's Hospital Molecular & PCR Laboratory. SFTF expressed satisfaction that these facilities fulfil the CrewSafe criteria, complying with the following Safe Management Measures, among other requirements.

The SG-STAR Fund Task Force is currently looking at further enhancements of the CrewSafe audit programme, which could include the use of electronic tamper-proof smart wearable devices while the crew are in quarantine, as well as secure document processing for onboarding crew.