***Transport union slams countries that bar ships over Ebola fears

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Caribbean and Maltese ports have turned away ships amid the scare over Ebola.

Turning vessels away goes against law and common humanity, says ITF

THE International Transport Workers’ Federation has hit out at those countries that have barred ships because of fears that a crew member was sick with Ebola.

“If someone is infected on a ship then they and the rest of the crew urgently need professional medical help.,” the union said.

The ITF is speaking out, following recent incidents in the Caribbean and Malta in which vessels are reported to have been turned away.

In both cases, the suspicions that an Ebola sufferer was on board proved to be incorrect.

The ITF has branded such action “unacceptable and contrary to the traditions of the sea as well as the International Maritime Organization’s  Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic, the World Health Organisation International Health Regulations, the WHO Ship Sanitation Guidelines, the Maritime Labour Convention — and common humanity”.

In a statement to Lloyd’s List, a  spokesperson said the ITF's advice, prepared with the International Maritime Employers’ Council and the International Chamber of Shipping “remains the same for those operators and seafarers who are prepared to call: educate crews about the risks, seriously consider whether shore leave is appropriate, avoid crew changes".

The ITF is “greatly concerned” about recent cases in the Caribbean, and about Malta's behaviour in turning away a vessel wrongly suspected of having an Ebola sufferer on board.

Where do vessels call after leaving Ebola-hit West African ports?

Monday 20 October 2014, 20:00

by James Baker

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Lloyd's List Intelligence vessel-tracking data shows where vessels call after leaving Ebola-hit West Africa.

Lloyd's List Intelligence data reveals which states may be most exposed to seaborne spread of the disease

SPAIN and the US, the only two countries whose citizens have contracted Ebola outside West Africa, are also among the nations most exposed to any shipborne spread of the disease, according to data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

However, the International Maritime Organization, backed by the World Health Organisation, has called on shipping companies to maintain calls to West Africa to deliver lifesaving supplies and equipment.

To date, cases of Ebola contracted outside West Africa have been limited to health workers caring for patients who picked up the virus in Africa.

Nevertheless, there is increasing concern that Ebola will spread as people contract the virus in affected areas then travel overseas.

To date, the emphasis has been on scanning airline passengers at airports receiving flights from Ebola-affected countries.

The threat of exposure to the virus by seaborne transmission has been less well documented.

Now, however, Lloyd’s List Intelligence has produced data to show where vessels that have called at ports in Ebola-hit countries in West Africa have sailed afterwards.

To view the exclusive interactive data please click here

Vessel calls

Between August 1 and October13, 364 vessels called at ports in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

These vessels went on to make 397 port calls outside these countries.

The largest number of calls during this period involved mainland Spain, whose ports handled 42 calls by 37 of these vessels.

To enlarge or download this graphic please click here

Reflecting regional trading patterns, the next two most-visited places were the Canary Islands and Morocco, each handling some 30 calls.

Then came calls to the major northern European hubs, particularly to Germany, which handled 22 calls from 21 vessels.

The US, which has imposed the tightest entry conditions on flights from the Ebola-affected region, received 16 calls from 16 vessels during the period.

To enlarge or download this graphic please click here

So far, there are no reports of any seafarers contracting Ebola.

Nevertheless, shipping lines, crewing agencies and maritime authorities are beginning to offer guidance and to impose restrictions on vessels that have called in affected countries.

Together, the World Health Organisation and the International Maritime Organization have written to shipping ministers, port authorities and shipping companies to say that the WHO does not recommend any ban on international travel or trade.

Instead, the two bodies have insisted that keeping open lines of communication is paramount — people in West Africa are dying unnecessarily due to delayed deliveries of lifesaving equipment and supplies.

To enlarge or download this graphic please click here

Measuring risk

The letter, dated October 10 and seen by Lloyd’s List, says that any existing or future measures adopted to restrict the movement of ships and cargoes must be commensurate with the public health risk.

­Restrictions in place to date apply mainly to vessels calling at ports in West Africa, having previously called in Ebola-affected countries.

However, there are reports that Argentina has restricted pilots from joining vessels that have arrived from affected countries.

Ireland and the US require declarations from the vessel’s master prior to arrival if anyone on board is showing Ebola symptoms.

Gibraltar has imposed a 21-day quarantine on vessels calling from any country affected by Ebola.

FROM THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE:

***Ebola impact: Shipping delays, health screenings, preventive measures

Click here for full-size infographic

Two months ago, the largest container carrier in the world, Maersk Line, issued a statement to its customers concerning the Ebola crisis in West Africa, meant to calm fears. The release did not mince words, and stated one undeniable fact at its start: Ebola has never been transmitted by international shipping.

Though the statement still remains true, the worldwide shipping community is feeling the effects of the disease in the form of delays and schedule changes, along with potential quarantines and ship health screenings.

The precaution is warranted: The 2014 Ebola crisis in the countries of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone has, as of an Oct. 17 situation report from the World Health Organization, resulted in 9,191 cases of Ebola worldwide and 4,546 deaths, more than 20 times the next largest outbreak, which occurred in Uganda in 2001 and resulted in 425 cases.

The trip from West Africa to the East Coast of the United States takes anywhere from 14 to 18 days. Ebola has an incubation period of 21 days. Doug Stevenson, director of the Seamen's Institute's Center for Seafarers' Rights, said cargo ships don't have a doctor on board.

"They'll have a medical officer, which is generally someone with basic training, almost like an EMT," Stevenson said. "They have some medicines on board. Ships are also able to radio for medical advice. If someone gets really sick, they can radio to a vessel coordination center to get advice."

Individual ships would have to have a plan in place to treat someone with Ebola-like symptoms, or to at least quarantine the crewmember until they reach port. JOC.com reached out to Maersk Line, which carried more than half of the 3,567 TEUs transported from Ebola-stricken countries to the U.S. to ask whether the company had protocols in place. The carrier would not comment on specific contingency plans or preparedness.

Crew screenings and precautions

It’s safe to say that any ship carrying crew from the four affected countries, or that has even stopped to load and unload at the ports in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria, are being looked at with a wary eye by ports around the world. Most of those ships are subject to mandatory health screenings, where regulators will check the crew’s temperature and ask a variety of health questions before clearing the vessel to dock.

“I have not seen this before,” Stevenson said. “When the Bird Flu was prevalent, there were screenings, but not to this extent.”

Argentina, Brazil, India, Sweden, France, Mexico, the Panama Canal, Singapore, Uruguay and Venezuela all have publicly announced screenings. In China, all incoming ships from affected countries are being screened. At the Port of Qingdao, there's a mandatory quarantine in place for those ships.

Neighboring African countries are also increasing their efforts to screen at ports, including Benin, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Senegal, the Gambia, South Africa and Togo.

Most major ports in the United States are screening crews that have stopped in the affected countries. There is no national protocol in place, a representative for the U.S. Coast Guard said this week, but individual Captains of Port can decide how their crews will handle a ship from West Africa. All ships, regardless of where they are sailing from, are required to advise the Coast Guard 96 hours before arrival at a U.S. port, and must report information including the last five ports of call for the ship, where crewmembers boarded, and any or all symptoms of illness aboard.

“The reporting requirement is really the difference between airports and seaports,” Stevenson said. “Airplanes can fly from an affected area, or make connecting flights where passengers get mixed in with another group, and the flight only takes three hours or six hours. For ships, it takes a couple weeks. If anyone has any symptoms, the crew reports it and the Coast Guard isn’t going to allow that ship to come in. They won’t even put a pilot on board if there’s a risk.”

According to the Coast Guard, 1,188 ships (inbound vessels that weigh 300 gross tons or more) have come into the U.S. ports from the four affected countries since Jan. 1. Of those, PIERS reports 122 are container vessels that stopped in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria at one point of their voyage.

Precautionary measures

The International Chamber of Shipping, in coordination with the International Maritime Employers' Council and the International Transport Workers Federation, released guidelines for shipping organizations in August to help stave off any possibility of crews coming in contact with Ebola.

The groups recommend that crew aboard vessels calling at the affected countries be advised of the risks, and shore leave should be reconsidered if risk of Ebola is near. Also, the guidelines recommend making no crew changes and monitoring the health of all crewmembers.

Delays and schedule changes

Typical health screenings are meant to take, at most, a few hours. In West Africa, because of the volume of ships and the need to screen nearly all crew coming in and out of the country, those screenings could set a ship’s schedule back a day, or even longer depending on the queue. In Côte d’Ivoire, inspectors can only handle two ships a day, and delays up to 48 hours have been reported.

It’s because of these delays that carriers such as Hapag-Lloyd have instituted an Ebola inspection fee on certain cargo shipments. Hapag-Lloyd's fee covers shipments to Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria, where shippers will be charged $250 per TEU.

Maersk even changed their West Africa loops this month. Maersk Line's West Africa loop now focuses on the Ebola-free Port of Dakar in Senegal, Drewry said, while its WAF7 serves only those nations affected by the virus. CMA CGM has also reorganized its West Africa calls, leaving a single string to serve ports in Ebola-stricken countries.

But delays based on fear of the disease are even more of an issue. On Oct. 16, WBALTV reported the ILA in Baltimore delayed a scheduled loading of used cars on a ship heading to West Africa for 45 minutes because of concern over the illness. The vessel was cleared and eventually loaded, but the incident prompted the Port of Baltimore to put out a statement that the port does not import goods from West Africa on a regular basis, and only exports used cars and heavy machinery to the countries affected by Ebola.

The weeks and months ahead

If the Ebola virus continues to spread, delays and schedule changes could worsen. Though Drewry Maritime Research doesn’t think carriers will abandon calls in West Africa as many have feared, the worldwide implications continue. Ships that have stopped in West Africa and have sick crewmembers are being diverted from major ports of call, and others are being quarantined for days on end.

Though data for September has not been compiled yet, SeaIntel predicted that schedule reliability could be impacted by Ebola screenings and delays.

Transport in and between African countries is also taking a hit, and could eventually take a major toll on the economies of affected countries. Though Nigeria is the continent’s fastest-growing economy, its goods have been held back because of border regulations from neighboring countries.