Caution required with more COVID cases on overseas vessels

The Mar­itime Union says extra cau­tion is need­ed in New Zealand ports fol­low­ing more cas­es of COVID-19 on over­seas ves­sels.

Mar­itime Union Nation­al Sec­re­tary Craig Har­ri­son says over­seas ships have to come into New Zealand, but vig­i­lance is required.

The Mar­shall Islands-flagged con­tain­er ship Mat­ti­na in Bluff has two COVID pos­i­tive crew mem­bers aboard, with the entire crew under quar­an­tine on the ves­sel.

A vac­ci­nat­ed pilot from South­port had been aboard the ves­sel, but no oth­er work­ers had been.

Mr Har­ri­son says a recent spike in COVID cas­es amongst over­seas crew mem­bers is con­cern­ing to port work­ers.

New, more vir­u­lent strains of COVID are anoth­er threat, he says.

How­ev­er, if safe­ty pro­ce­dures were strict­ly fol­lowed with the use of PPE (per­son­al pro­tec­tive equip­ment) and phys­i­cal dis­tanc­ing, then risk could be min­imised.

The vac­ci­na­tion of all port work­ers com­ing into prox­im­i­ty with over­seas ves­sels is anoth­er pri­or­i­ty, says Mr Har­ri­son.

“The real­i­ty is we require ships com­ing into New Zealand with essen­tial imports, so we have to keep to best prac­tice and con­stant­ly eval­u­ate any new risks.”

Mr Har­ri­son says glob­al ship­ping com­pa­nies should be doing more to ensure inter­na­tion­al crew are vac­ci­nat­ed and test­ed.

He says sea­far­ers are pro­vid­ing an essen­tial ser­vice to New Zealand, and there is an oblig­a­tion by New Zealand to ensure their health and well­be­ing is con­sid­ered.