On the long way home, 8 ocean crew members changed shifts in Changshu and disembarked

Two ocean crew members descended the spiral staircase. On September 7, 8 crew members of the "Ruian City" ship changed shifts and disembarked in Changshu.

An ocean crew member passes through a disinfection channel. On September 7, 8 crew members of the "Ruian City" ship changed shifts and disembarked in Changshu.

The gantry crane is hoisting a batch of "wear-resistant ball" steel products to the "Ruian City" wheel. After about 36 days of sailing, this batch of "wear-resistant balls" will appear at the docks in Chile.

At the other end of the "Ryan City" ship, Captain Gong Yangfeng took his suitcase and climbed down the spiral ladder. Nearly 10 months later, his feet once again stepped on the ground.

After several twists and turns, the eight crew members of the "Ruian City" ship, in a mixture of hope and disappointment, finally disembarked in Changshu on the morning of September 7.

The Ryan City is an ocean-going grocery vessel that regularly travels between China and South America, and with the addition of port loading and unloading time, each round trip takes 4 to 5 months. Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, these ocean-going crew members have been able to set foot on land since the moment they set foot on board until they change shifts and disembark.

Chen Jun, director of the Ship Supervision Department of the Changshu Maritime Safety Bureau, said that before changing shifts in Changshu, the "Ruian City" ship had already traveled to and from South America twice. If the shift change is not possible, the eight crew members will continue to work on the ship for more than 12 months, which will seriously damage the crew's leave rights and violate the requirements of the International Maritime Labour Convention on "the maximum continuous working hours of seafarers without leave".

Chen Jun said that after receiving a letter of help from the shipowner COSCO SHIPPING (Xiamen), the Jiangsu Maritime Safety Bureau attached great importance to this and instructed the Changshu Maritime Safety Bureau to actively report to the local government. Changshu Maritime Safety Bureau cooperated with the local epidemic prevention and control headquarters, and repeatedly consulted and coordinated with relevant units at ports such as the Commerce Bureau, Customs, and Border Inspection, and analyzed and judged the ship's route port, crew change and crew health monitoring. After research, the shift change met the relevant requirements, and after obtaining the consent of the Changshu Municipal Government, the 8 Chinese crew members on the "Ruian City" ship were successfully served.

"When I went out, my kids were in my freshman year of high school. When I came back, I was already a sophomore in high school. Gong Yangfeng said that after the end of the quarantine, he will return to his hometown of Cixi, Zhejiang Province, as soon as possible, "to accompany the children more." ”

In fact, due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, it is difficult for the crew to change shifts. Taking the 8 crew members of the "Ruian City" ship as an example, before changing shifts in Changshu and landing, due to the impact of the local outbreak of new crown pneumonia in China, they had been waiting for a month and experienced two shift refusals at other ports and ports. "Constantly hoping, constantly disappointing." Gong Yangfeng said, "I am very depressed, tortured, and I don't know if I can successfully go ashore." ”

Gong Yangfeng said that before the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, when they arrived at the port of discharge, the crew could go ashore to purchase daily necessities and "or find a place to drink", but now they can only stay on the ship. If you can't change shifts normally, it will make the psychological pressure on the crew more, "many young crew members are considering changing careers." ”

Zhang Xuewen is the first time to "run a boat". For the "travel around the world and experience the customs of various places" told by the teacher when he was a student, he did not understand, "Because of the epidemic, I have never come down after going up." Fortunately, I have not experienced it before, and I can't talk about not adapting. On the boat, Zhang Xuewen passed the "closed" time by making voice calls with his girlfriend. "Play for half an hour to an hour a day." He said that the long-term absence will have some impact on both sides, "[myself] have to work harder." ”

Zhang Xuewen was also prepared not to change shifts. "Although I miss my family and my girlfriend, if the impact of the epidemic really can't change shifts, there is no way to do it."

Fortunately, after a long wait of nearly a month, he landed as he wished. "After the quarantine is over, go home, spend more time with your parents and girlfriend, prepare three pairs of examinations, and then consider getting on the ship next year."

Seafarers are key workers in the maritime industry. Statistics show that there are more than 800,000 seafarers in China, responsible for more than 90% of international trade and more than 50% of domestic trade goods transportation. Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the Jiangsu maritime department has adhered to the principle of "all that should be exchanged", and has provided shift replacement services for more than 33,400 Chinese crew members, of which the number of shifts in 2021 exceeded 12,000, and the foreign trade throughput increased by 15.3% over the same period last year, effectively ensuring the smooth flow of waterway transportation channels and serving local economic and social development.

In order to effectively solve the four major problems of Chinese crew members, such as difficult landing, shift change, medical treatment, and homecoming, the Jiangsu maritime department also strictly implements the requirements of the "Notice on Establishing a Mechanism for The Prevention and Control of Foreign-related Epidemics at Waterway Ports", and implements a circuit breaker mechanism for agencies that conceal and falsely report ship crew information and improperly profit for some terminals that do not provide crew change services for no reasonable reason. For the frequent occurrence of crew infection on international voyage ships, the lack of strict control of the ship-to-shore interface of the dock unit, the insufficient reserve of epidemic prevention materials, the refusal to provide shift changes and injury and illness relief facilities for ship crew members, and the concealment and false reporting of ship crew information by agencies, the epidemic prevention and control department will be coordinated to implement credit punishment. In addition, the Jiangsu maritime department is also actively coordinating the vaccination of crew members. Recently, the Taicang Maritime Safety Bureau, together with the Taicang Port Management Committee, the Taicang Municipal Health Commission and the Taicang Water Green Comprehensive Service Zone, jointly launched the first domestic trade ship crew normalization "appointment system" vaccination service in the Yangtze River Basin.

"After so many ports, so many 'tribulations', now it's finally coming ashore." Gong Yangfeng said that the conditions of isolation are good, "it is a sanatorium, giving praise to Changshu and Haihai." ”

China Water Transport Network