Clarification needed on MIQ for New Zealand crews

The union rep­re­sent­ing New Zealand sea­far­ers is ask­ing the Gov­ern­ment to pro­vide more clar­i­ty around MIQ rules for crews work­ing in inter­na­tion­al waters.

Mar­itime Union Welling­ton Branch Sec­re­tary Jim King says MUNZ mem­bers can’t under­stand the log­ic of a deci­sion to make them stay iso­lat­ed on their ship.

18 New Zealand sea­far­ers aboard the MMA Vision, man­aged by New Ply­mouth-based Kingston Off­shore Ser­vices, have been on board the ves­sel in inter­na­tion­al waters.

The crew returned neg­a­tive COVID-19 tests before spend­ing 19 days work­ing at sea, but have been denied an MIQ exemp­tion.

Mr King says there is no obvi­ous rea­son for the crew mem­bers to be iso­lat­ed as they had not been in con­tact with any­one else.

“The Mar­itime Union ful­ly sup­ports strong mea­sures to pro­tect every­one from COVID-19, but in this case it seems the rules need review­ing.”

He says there is some con­fu­sion about the appar­ent dif­fer­ent treat­ment of crew mem­bers on the inter­is­land fer­ry Aratere, which recent­ly returned from Syd­ney after main­te­nance at the dry dock.

Mr King says con­sis­ten­cy is essen­tial.

The MMA Vision had been under­tak­ing sur­vey work of the sea floor for the new South­ern Cross Cable, a major project to increase New Zealand’s inter­net capac­i­ty.

The Mar­itime Union was await­ing a response from mar­itime author­i­ties on the issue.