Panama Assists CCL Crew Transfers

[SeaHunt]

Yay! More crew headed home - so happy for them 😁

 

"As part of its ongoing support for seafarers, Panama recently assisted Carnival Cruise Line with the first transshipment of crew across the Isthmus. The Carnival Miracle cruise ship, which was anchored in the Pacific sector, tendered approximately 91 crew members to shore representing 25 different nationalities, including citizens of the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nicaragua, and Haiti, according to the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP).

 

The crew members were landed at the Flamenco Marina in Amador and then transferred by bus to the Colón 2000 terminal, on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus. The crew then boarded the Carnival Glory to continue their voyage to Curacao. Minister of Maritime Affairs, Arch. Noriel Araúz, inspected the operation, noting how proud Panama was to provide this assistance to help the crew to be repatriated to their home countries".

 

 

 

https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/crew-transfers-panama-assists-carnival-new-zealand-s-new-rules

[pc_load_letter]

Good job Panama!

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, pc_load_letter said:

Good job Panama!

I guess Panama does not have the equivalent of the CDC. They are actually helpful.

[chengkp75]

11 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I guess Panama does not have the equivalent of the CDC. They are actually helpful.

Panama does have an equivalent to the CDC, but given that Panama is the largest ship registry in the world, they are a major player in the IMO, and as such are trying to show the rest of the world that facilitating crew reliefs is in the best interest of all maritime flag states, as the IMO is working on.  The CDC is only being restrictive to cruise ship crew, allowing foreign crew from other ships to freely travel to/from their ships.

[puppycanducruise]

Good for Panama! 

[ontheweb]

51 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Panama does have an equivalent to the CDC, but given that Panama is the largest ship registry in the world, they are a major player in the IMO, and as such are trying to show the rest of the world that facilitating crew reliefs is in the best interest of all maritime flag states, as the IMO is working on.  The CDC is only being restrictive to cruise ship crew, allowing foreign crew from other ships to freely travel to/from their ships.

I guess I was being too literal when I said that Panama does not have the equivalent of a CDC. Maybe I should have modified it by saying at least Panama does not have the equivalent of a CDC that instead of cooperating for the common good just looks at its short sighted goals, or maybe just wants to show it can flex its power.

 

That is interesting that the CDC is treating cruise ship crews differently than all other maritime crews. How do they justify that? Or do they even feel they have to justify it other than we can do it.

[chengkp75]

27 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

I guess I was being too literal when I said that Panama does not have the equivalent of a CDC. Maybe I should have modified it by saying at least Panama does not have the equivalent of a CDC that instead of cooperating for the common good just looks at its short sighted goals, or maybe just wants to show it can flex its power.

 

That is interesting that the CDC is treating cruise ship crews differently than all other maritime crews. How do they justify that? Or do they even feel they have to justify it other than we can do it.

From the beginning of the pandemic, the USCG has designated merchant mariners, both foreign and domestic, as essential workers, and therefore exempt from travel restrictions.  Basically, the US and Canada were the only countries to recognize the importance of keeping crew moving so ships keep moving.  I have no idea what justification the CDC is using to treat cruise ship crew differently, other than cruise ships have had cases of covid, while I've not heard of more than a handful of cases on merchant ships worldwide.  My personal opinion is that while the travel restrictions were needed when the ships first started shutting down, and they were disembarking passengers and crew from ships that may have or did have cases of covid onboard, these restrictions were kept in place long after their effectiveness (the crew have been in quarantine longer than anyone has been required to keep strict quarantine in the US) as a punishment for the cruise lines, but these measures only ended up punishing crew and not the lines.  I think that the push from the international organizations (IMO, ITF, ILO) to open up crew changes around the world has led the CDC to start their "color coding" scheme, which, is a sensible approach to crew repatriation, but about 6 weeks overdue.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

From the beginning of the pandemic, the USCG has designated merchant mariners, both foreign and domestic, as essential workers, and therefore exempt from travel restrictions.  Basically, the US and Canada were the only countries to recognize the importance of keeping crew moving so ships keep moving.  I have no idea what justification the CDC is using to treat cruise ship crew differently, other than cruise ships have had cases of covid, while I've not heard of more than a handful of cases on merchant ships worldwide.  My personal opinion is that while the travel restrictions were needed when the ships first started shutting down, and they were disembarking passengers and crew from ships that may have or did have cases of covid onboard, these restrictions were kept in place long after their effectiveness (the crew have been in quarantine longer than anyone has been required to keep strict quarantine in the US) as a punishment for the cruise lines, but these measures only ended up punishing crew and not the lines.  I think that the push from the international organizations (IMO, ITF, ILO) to open up crew changes around the world has led the CDC to start their "color coding" scheme, which, is a sensible approach to crew repatriation, but about 6 weeks overdue.

I guess better late than never, except of course for those poor crew members who committed suicide.