News / More port restrictions from India's Covid wave exacerbate crew change crisis

The catastrophic rise of Covid cases in India has reignited the ships’ crew-change crisis, prompting fears it could become “worse than Suez”.

Last week, the port of Singapore banned vessels changing crew who had been in India within the past 14 days, with similar restrictions at the UAE’s Fujairah, a major bunkering hub, and Zhoushan in China.

According to the International Chamber of Shipping, there are some 240,000 Indian crew members at sea a year, of 1.6m worldwide, and concerns are rising that ...