The May Crew Change Indicator records a tiny increase in seafarers onboard vessels beyond their contract expiry since April, but overall does not indicate that the fears of a re-escalation of the crew change crisis due to the war in Ukraine have been fulfilled.
May Indicator
The latest Indicator shows that the number of seafarers onboard vessels beyond the expiry of their contract has increased slightly from 4.2% to 4.5% in the last month, while the number of seafarers onboard vessels for over 11 months has decreased from 0.4% to 0.3%.
These numbers remain very close to what has been reported since December 2021, confirming a stabilisation of the situation. The May Indicator also reports a 6.4 percentage point increase in seafarer vaccines, from 77.2% in April to 83.6% in May, as seafarer vaccinations keep increasing at a good and steady pace.
Logistical challenges
Ship managers reported an improvement in flight availability and an overall easing of COVID-19-related
Ship managers report a mixed situation with regard to crew changes in Asia. A positive development has been reported from Singapore, where crew change regulations have been eased. However, other Asian countries and ports continue to impose restrictions on seafarers.
Logistical challenges in carrying out crew change for Russian and Ukrainian seafarers, especially unvaccinated seafarers, were also reported this month. Overall, ship managers reported an improvement in flight availability and an overall easing of COVID-19-related restrictions.
Seafarer vaccinations
Seafarer vaccinations meanwhile keep growing at a positive and strong pace. In addition, vaccines are being made available for crew who have joined vessels when unvaccinated.
Nonetheless, some insecurities remain over the duration of protection provided by vaccines, the fear of new variants, and the effectiveness of vaccines against the different forms of COVID-19.
Seafarers’ access to vaccines
“The May Neptune Indicator shows continued progress on seafarers’ access to vaccines and a continued stabilisation of the crew change situation despite the current lockdowns in China and the war in Ukraine,” says Kasper Søgaard, Managing Director, Head of Institutional Strategy and Development, Global Maritime Forum.
Kasper Søgaard adds,"This is positive, but as we have seen in the past couple of years, things can change at short notice, so we need to remain vigilant in order to protect the wellbeing of seafarers."
Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator
Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator is published once a month and builds on aggregated data
The Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator builds on aggregated data from leading ship managers: Anglo-Eastern, Bernhard Schulte, Columbia Shipmanagement, Fleet Management (FLEET), OSM, Synergy Marine, Thome, V.Group, and Wallem Ship Management, which collectively have about 90,000 seafarers currently onboard.
The Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator is published once a month and builds on aggregated data provided by the ship managers to the Global Maritime Forum.
Proportion of vaccinated seafarers
The data is used to calculate a weighted average of the percentage of seafarers who have been onboard vessels beyond the expiry of their contract of employment, a weighted average of the percentage of seafarers who have been onboard vessels for over 11 months, and a weighted average of the percentage of seafarers who have been vaccinated.
As top ship managers are making significant efforts and are often better placed in facilitating crew changes, the Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator cannot be used directly to calculate the full number of seafarers impacted by the crew change crisis. Likewise, the calculated percentage of seafarers who have been vaccinated is likely to overestimate the actual proportion of vaccinated seafarers.