Covid-19: The ‘pretty strict’ rules for arriving ships and their crews

Three current Covid-19 cases have been linked to a ship arriving in New Zealand, while 18 others are connected to overseas crews.

A contractor working at the Ports of Auckland and Taranaki tested positive on Friday. Two of his workplace contacts have now also been diagnosed.

Meanwhile, 18 fishing crew isolating at a Christchurch quarantine hotel after flying into New Zealand have tested positive to Covid-19. A historical case was also found on a crew member on a ship in the Port of Tauranga.

One of the ships the contractor worked on, the Ken Rei, was on Tuesday anchored off the Port of Napier, with the port unwilling to allow it to dock.

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Phil Shoemack, the medical officer of health at Toi Te Ora Public Health in Bay of Plenty said the regime for ship crews was “pretty strict”.

“At the moment there’s essentially no shore leave, so that reduces one risk of ship crews spreading the virus,” he said.

“The other risk is when port workers go on the ship to load, resupply the galley, inspect the ship, or whatever work it might be,” Shoemack said.

“The requirement for those port workers is they must wear personal protective equipment – mask and gloves – when they’re on the ship.

“As much as possible they must prevent themselves from getting closer than 2 metres for more than 15 minutes with any of the crew.

“Sometimes that’s not possible and they have to get closer than that, so we can’t eliminate the risk. But now we have routine swabbing for all port workers,” Shoemack said.

“Also any port worker turning up to work is under clear instructions that should they have any symptoms they’re to turn around and go home.”

Which ships are allowed to visit New Zealand?

The rules for ships and ships’ crews visiting New Zealand are set out in the Covid-19 Public Health Response (Maritime Border) Order 2020, although Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield has said some of the practices are being reconsidered.

Only New Zealand-flagged ships and exempt ships are allowed to enter New Zealand waters and ports. Foreign-flagged ships are generally banned with some exemptions to allow for cargo flow. Cruise liners are banned. Foreign-flagged ships exempt from the ban include cargo and fishing ships.

Other than ships covered by the exemption, the director-general of health can give permission for a foreign ship to arrive in this country if there is a compelling need, such as for provisions and fuel, substantial repair or refit, and humanitarian reasons.

Humanitarian reasons would be unlikely to include craft travelling primarily for pleasure or convenience such as tourists, or for “wintering over”.

What do they have to do?

All ships planning to arrive in New Zealand must, in most cases, give at least seven full days notice of arrival to Customs.

Can the crew come ashore?

Nearly everyone arriving in New Zealand by sea is legally required to follow criteria set out in the order for isolation on the ship. That includes those arriving in small craft and pleasure craft.

The only exemptions are New Zealand government ships, New Zealand warships and foreign State ships.

Every person who arrives in New Zealand on board a ship must remain in isolation and quarantine for at least 14 days.

Where someone wants to disembark, the whole crew of the ship must have:

• been in isolation or quarantine from point of last contact for at least 14 days on the ship on which they arrived, and

• been symptom-free throughout that 14 days, and

• met the low risk indicators – usually returning a negative test result.

People can temporarily disembark from a ship to undertake an essential task on or immediately next to a ship.

A medical officer of health or health protection officer may permit disembarkation during the isolation period for other reasons such as for medical treatment.

Who can go on board?

The only people who can go on board a ship which is in isolation or quarantine are those who are undertaking a necessary task. That include such people as enforcement officers, pilots, Customs or immigration officers.

Anyone who boards a ship must take reasonable steps to minimise the risk of spread of Covid-19, including by maintaining physical distancing of at least 2 metres from any person who is in isolation and quarantine and wearing personal protective equipment.

What about crew changes?

If a crew member wants to disembark to fly out of New Zealand, or to leave on another ship, they have to

• travel direct from their vessel to the airport on the same day as the international flight or travel direct from to the other ship and depart as soon as reasonably practicable.

Crew members arriving in New Zealand by air must travel directly from the airport to the ship they are departing on and depart from New Zealand on that ship as soon as is reasonably practicable.

If this can’t happen quickly, the crew members must go into a managed isolation facility while they wait.

When will the risk of cases at the border stop?

Auckland University of Technology lecturer in supply chain management Dr Michael Wang said he was not surprised to hear a port worker had tested positive for coronavirus, when the global pandemic was not under effective control.

“Experts have said as long as there is no vaccine and effective treatment for the Covid-19 on a global scale, the pandemic will continue for a long time in the future,” Wang said.

Worldwide, air cargo and shipping logistics had been significantly affected by the disease, although ocean freight capacity was at normal levels in New Zealand for now.

“Industry and government should be paying more attention to the supply chain uncertainty and risk posed by Covid-19. We need to conduct more logistics research on this topic to support New Zealand businesses.”

Could we do more?

Associate Professor Lincoln Wood, who specialises in operations and supply chain management at University of Otago, said New Zealand ports were less automated than those in some countries, and although they had relatively few contact points there was still a risk of virus transmission.

“Two proposals would be effective in exerting control and reducing risks at maritime ports. First, we can increase testing of port workers and foreign vessel crews,” Wood said.

Better personnel movement protocols could reduce contact points and where locations were used by both crews and workers sanitisation could be increased.

“Second, we could curtail international vessel interactions with New Zealand ports by mandating a smaller number of international ports and increasing domestic sea freight movements from these hubs to regional ports,” he said.

”The approach is politically challenging as, following deregulation, we have many ports in competition. Consolidating international ports would represent a significant shift in thinking about a national ports strategy but would enable more control over this potential virus transmission point.”