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Progress as China Permits Indian Crew Change and Some Coal to Land

8 Feb 2021

 

 

The months-long standoff which has resulted in dozens of bulk carriers loaded with Australian coal becoming stranded in China appears to be easing if only for humanitarian reasons. Reports indicate that the crew standard aboard one of the ships since last September is going to be permitted to go home while China will allow a few of the ships to offload their cargo and depart.

 

The standoff began last summer when China began refusing to permit bulk carriers arriving at the ports of Caofeidian and Jingtang in northern China to offload their cargo of Australian coal. Chinese officials said it was due to local regulations implemented in response to the coronavirus although many international analysts said it was part of an expanding trade dispute between China and Australia. Sixty or more vessels reported to anchored off the ports stranded and unable to leave or complete crew changes.

 

Indian officials called attention to the issue in the fall highlighting two vessels the Jag Anand with 23 Indian sailors who were stranded anywhere from six months or more than a year and unable to leave due to the Chinese restrictions. A second vessel, the Anastasia had been waiting offshore since September with 18 Indian crew onboard.

 

Indian government officials, union representatives, and MSC as the owner of the Anastasia all issued pleas to release the crews on humanitarian ground. MSC had attempted to negotiate an agreement for its ships to sail to another port to complete a crew change or it was even proposed to do the crew change at sea. The crew had become so despondent that one aboard the Anastasia attempted to commit suicide at the beginning of the year.

 

After repeated attempts by the Indian foreign ministry and the embassy in Beijing, a spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Anurag Srivastava, announced yesterday in his briefing that China has given permission for a crew change to take place aboard the Anastasia. The Indian officials said that the Chinese Central authorities have instructed the local authorities and port to permit the crew of the Anastasia to depart, but the specific details are still being arranged.

Argus is reporting that a total of eight vessels will be permitted to offload their cargo effort by the Chinese.  Among those vessels is the Jag Anand, which was among the first to arrive off the Chinese ports. The crew that had been trapped aboard for more than seven months, however, returned to India in mid-January after an agreement was reached for the vessel to sail to Japan where the crew change was completed.

 

While the situation has been resolved for a few of the vessels, China has not indicated that it will resume receiving shipments from the other vessels. Many of the ships have been there since October and are also seeking permission to offload their cargo and depart.

BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE 02-05-2021 06:55:59

Comments (0)


Today
8:03am
Hi Jenna! I made a new design, and i wanted to show it to you.
8:03am
It's quite clean and it's inspired from Bulkit.
8:12am
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8:13am
FYI it was done in less than a day.
8:17am
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8:18am
And if you have a prototype, you can also send me the link to it.

Monday
4:55pm
Hey Jenna, what's up?
4:56pm
Iam coming to LA tomorrow. Interested in having lunch?
5:21pm
Hey mate, it's been a while. Sure I would love to.
5:27pm
Ok. Let's say i pick you up at 12:30 at work, works?
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Yup, that works great.
5:44pm
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5:27pm
No worries

Today
2:01pm
Hello Jenna, did you read my proposal?
2:01pm
Didn't hear from you since i sent it.
2:02pm
Hello Milly, Iam really sorry, Iam so busy recently, but i had the time to read it.
2:04pm
And what did you think about it?
2:05pm
Actually it's quite good, there might be some small changes but overall it's great.
2:07pm
I think that i can give it to my boss at this stage.
2:09pm
Crossing fingers then

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