中國央视节目关注海员疫境四难
CCTV programme concerns four difficulties of seafarers during pandemic
内地中央电视台节目《新闻周刊》近日关注海员在疫情期间登陆难、换班难、治病难、回家难。有业内人士指船员换班问题严峻，但缺乏具强制力的明确指引，地方码头防疫措施亦各异，问题仍未见解决。
The Mainland China Central Television programme “News Weekly” focused on the difficulty of disembarking, crew change, medical treatment and returning home for seafarers during COVID-19 pandemic. Maritime professionals said the problem of crew change is still serious, but lack of clear and compulsory guidelines, and various terminal have different prevention measures, the problem has not been resolved yet.
国际船舶管理公司中国区董事总经理顾剑文表示，其公司一艘原计划停靠广州一个码头卸货的货轮上，有17名海员工作合同已到期，另有4人逾期3个多月，但码头却回覆他们只可卸货，不能换班。其管理的另外两艘原订停靠山东和江苏两个码头的船，近日亦接获类似回覆。
Gu Jianwen, Managing Director in China of an international ship management corporation, said a bulk carrier of his company that was originally scheduled to dock at a terminal in Guangzhou, was told by the terminal that they can only unload the goods but no change crew may take place. On that vessel, work contract of 17 seafarers had expired, and that of another 4 crew were overdue for more than 3 months. Two other vessels under their management that were originally scheduled to dock at two terminals in Shandong and Jiangsu had received similar response recently.
他形容船员换班问题「很严峻」，指在国际货轮上航行的船员，若久久未能换理，心理压力很大，身体又疲惫，他们需按合同按时休假，而国际公约和国际海事组织亦有相关要求，若船员工作逾期可能遭扣船，令船长压力大增，亦影响船舶安全。
He described the problem of crew change as “very severe”, referring to the fact that if crew members sailing on international vessels disable to sign off for a long time, they are under great psychological pressure and physically exhausted. They need to take vacations on time according to their contract. International conventions and the International Maritime Organization also have related requirement, by which vessels may be arrested if crew change is overdue, thus impose great pressure on captains and may affect the safety of the vessel.
顾认为，海员是疫情中角色关键，为国际贸易保驾护航，工作与每个人生活息息相关，但这些「关键人员」却要付上不少代价，往往需花成本远赴国外码头，经历重重关卡上船，再搭乘少得可怜的航班绕道回国。另外，广东海事局原局长梁建伟早前发表文章，直指相对于处置顺利的航空防控，海员目前存在离船登陆难、换班难、治病难、回家难的四难问题。
Gu believes that seafarers are the key role in the epidemic, as their works are essential in maintaining global trade and closely related to everyone’s life. However, these “key workers” are scarifying a lot, need not to say they have to pay a lot of money and go through numerous procedures for getting onboard, and the flight for them to get back home is largely reduced. In addition, Liang Jianwei, the former director of the Guangdong Maritime Safety Administration, pointed out in his article, that compared with the prevention measures of aviation, seafarers are facing four difficulties: difficulty in disembarking, difficulty in crew change, difficulty in treatment, and difficulty in returning home.
中国交通运输部先后颁布7版「海员疫情防控指南」，承认由于各地防疫差异，个别港口换班不顺畅。顾剑文和梁建伟认为，相对航空防疫的完善条目，码头则未有具强制力的明确指引，地方在换班与防疫之间有很大的自由裁量权。
The Ministry of Transport of China has promulgated the seventh version of the pandemic prevention measures for seafarers, acknowledging that due to differences in epidemic prevention in various regions, crew change in individual terminals are not smooth. Gu Jianwen and Liang Jianwei believe that, in contrast to the guidelines for aviation epidemic prevention, those for terminals are not clear and compulsory, and the local governments have a lot of discretion between crew change and epidemic prevention.
海员「疫境」困难重重在早前揭发的「弘进轮」事件可见一斑。 7月末，弘进轮从菲律宾出发后，随即有人发烧，病症在船上迅速蔓延，8月初船舶故障停留舟山，船员并向舟山当局求救，但直到5日后才获转送医院，船员证实确疹，部分至今仍在隔离治疗。
The incident of dry bulker Grand Progress is evidence of how difficult of seafarers in the epidemic. At the end of July, after the vessel departed from the Philippines, one of the crew members suffered a fever and more members developed similar symptoms in a short time. In early August, the vessel stranded in Zhoushan waters and crew asked for help of the Zhoushan authorities. Infected crew members were not transferred to the hospital until 5 days later, and they were tested positive. Some are still being treated in isolation up to now.
舟山市港航和口岸管理局解释，因该艘船并非以舟山为目的港的重载船舶，要找处置地方较困难。舟山市卫健委亦指，因舟山是海上交通枢纽，防疫压力大，在处理「弘进轮」时有多方考虑，如因翌日天气有风雨，病人需赶在深夜运送，雨水亦会冲走消毒液；当局亦将需时原本3天的检测减至15小时，又抽调医疗专家及消毒团队合力处理；从医疗废物处理，至病人接受治疗的环境都受严格监管。
The local port authority explained that because Zhoushan was not the destination port of the bulker, it was difficult to find a place to handle its situation. The municipal health commission also pointed out that because Zhoushan is a maritime transportation hub, there is a lot of pressure to prevent spreading of epidemics. There were many considerations when dealing with infected crew, for example due to the unstable weather on the next day, infected crew needed to be transported in the middle of the night. The disinfectant might also wash away by the rain. The authorities reduced the original 3 days of testing to 15 hours, and deployed medical experts and disinfection teams to work together. From the treatment of medical waste to where the patients received treatment, environments were strictly controlled.
去年4月至今，中国累计完成国际航行船舶船员换班逾27万人次，其中针对船员伤病救助1600多人次。但可预见到更多疲倦的海员需要换班，许多海员可能需要治疗，未来需要的是更精确的预测和有智慧的人道政策。
Since April last year, China has completed more than 270,000 crew changes of international vessels, of which more than 1,600 seafarers were rescued. Foreseeing more tired seafarers need crew change, and many seafarers may need to be treated in the future, more precise anticipation and wisdom in humane policy making is in need.
SOURE: 28-8-2021 https://tv.cctv.com/2021/08/28/VIDErOM957xOwxuB1FNBeKHk210828.shtml?spm=C45404.PwbfZXOPSuvK.Efs3VZ5UgLgw.2 (10:33-18:28)
