On April 18, the State Council’s joint defense and joint control mechanism held a press conference on enhancing the capacity of international freight corridors. A reporter mentioned at the meeting that international shipping crews needed to leave the ship due to the expiry of the shipping agreement or labor contract. However, it was reported that due to the prevention and control of the epidemic, some crew members were unable to take shift breaks at domestic ports.
Li Tianbi, director of safety of the Ministry of Transport and Director of the Water Transport Bureau, responded that as of April 15th, a total of 3,500 international shipping crews had shifted on and off the ship at the relevant ports. It is about 40 days to complete the shift change according to the current progress.
Li Tianbi said that the Ministry of Transport will guide the local people’s governments at relevant ports to optimize the crew shift process, speed up the shift schedule, and protect the crew’s rights under the premise of epidemic prevention and control.