New Delhi (NVI): More than 1,00,000 crew change on Indian ports and through charter flights was facilitated amid the Covid-19 pandemic, highest in the world, Ministry of Shipping said today.
Crew change consists of replacing one of the ship’s crew members with another one and involves sign-on the ships and sign-off the ships procedures.
In an official statement, the Ministry said that the maritime sector is among the worst-hit sectors due to coronavirus pandemic. Despite that, all the Indian Ports were operational and providing essential services throughout the pandemic, the ministry said, adding that the main pillar for the smooth supply chain for India and world were the seafarers.
Seafarers had to suffer due to closing of Sign on and Sign-off and lockdowns and movement restrictions imposed by the various countries worldwide, it said.
Shipping Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya instructed DG Shipping to come up with robust grievances redress mechanism to facilitate the seafarers.
He has emphasized to ensure that seafarers should be able to approach the ministry during the difficult time and no seafarer should suffer due to poor grievance redress system.
DG Shipping, Amit Kumar said that to sustain maritime transportation during the pandemic situation, it has taken various initiatives like extension of various certificates required for sailing and Online E-pass facility for travel.
“An online utility has been created for verification of seafarers for charter flights and for uploading details of stranded seafarers along with online ship registration and online charter licensing,” he added.
The ministry further stated, DG Shipping received communications through emails, tweets, and letters from more than 2,000 Maritime Stakeholders and took immediate responsive action to facilitate their needs.
It also conducted e-learning for module courses and online virtual course and more than 35,000 students enrolled for e-learning, it added.
-RJV/ARK
