This update follows on our previous newsletter on COVID-19 “Volume 2020/8 Update: Coronavirus” as published on the NNPC website on 26 March 2020.
Today a new regulation was issued by the Romanian Ministry of Transport & the Ministry of Health. This regulation requires all vessels calling the Romanian Ports to be equipped with the necessary protection equipment when pilots are required on board. If the vessels are found not to be equipped with necessary protection materials, then the vessel will be required to wait in quarantine period for 14 days counting from the date of last port of call.
Please find hereunder the list of protective equipment required by the port authorities to be present and available onboard:
Disposable protective gloves;
Disposable face masks with filter;
Protection glasses;
Alcohol type disinfectant/sanitizer;
Disposable overalls.
Should the vessel not have disposable overalls on board, then overalls made of cotton should be made available, which can be disposed when the pilot is leaving the vessel. This last requirement applies only to vessels whose last port of call was one of the countries where the pandemic is widespread. There is no specific list attached to the Regulation but based on information locally available the following countries are declared as so-called “red zones”: Italy, Spain, Germany, France and Iran.
Anchorage areas where the ships will be allowed to wait in quarantine are the port of Sulina (for the vessels coming through Black Sea) or 44 NM off Danube river (for the vessels which sail through the Bystroye Canal). For sake of good order, if quarantined, members are advised to doublecheck with their local agent in respect of exact anchoring positions.
Members are advised to supply their vessels calling Romanian Ports with necessary protection equipment listed above in order to avoid any delays.
Furthermore we would strongly encourage members to request regular updates from their local agents with respect to the current restrictions in the respective load and discharge ports. Updated information per country can be found in the Novel coronavirus section on BIMCO.org. More general information on COVID-19 and the latest WHO situation reports can be consulted here.
We trust that this newsletter is of assistance to our members, however in case of any specific questions, we invite our members to contact us at claims@nnpc.nl