Alan Renaud

Department of Civil, Aviation, Ports & Marine

30 Apr 2020

Stepwise phases to “New

Normal”
Maritime Transport
Table of Contents

01 02 03 04 05
Introduction General Considerations Maintaining a high level Ensuring enhanced Case Studies
of hygiene & adequate vigilance & rapid
social distancing response capacity

Aims
Objectives of social Bus in Hunan, China

Recommendations Recommendations
distancing and hygiene
Goverment Measures
measures in transport
Restaurant in China

Criteria
Common transport NYC Subway

situations

Cost Estimates
Facemask Policies
Principles of PPE
Action Plan
application
01
Introduction
Aims
SMART

• To provide measures for the maritime transport sector, consistent with directions from the Public
Health Authority, and commensurate with public health risks, to minimise unnecessary interference
with international and domestic traffic and trade, in order to prevent the introduction or spread of
the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Seychelles

• To boost confidence in the traveling public that marine transport and its associated operations are
being safely carried out

• To develop an action plan for implementation that, to the extent practicable, follows the
recommended practices of the Seychelles Public Health Authority, World Health Organisation
(WHO), International Maritime Organisation (IMO), International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO),
International Air Transport Association (IATA), leading Flag State Administrations and Port
Authorities and Departments of Transport, leading airlines and marine organisations, and other
relevant international bodies

• Use transport case studies to guide policy, adopting a precautionary principle

Government Measures Announced
Stepwise phases towards “new normal”

May 4 May 11 May 18 June 1

1. Removal of all movement Opening of

Opening of
The following can resume respecting
restrictions the guidance of the DOH:

2. Religious services
1. Childminding
1. All Primary Schools

3. Funeral services
2. Care services
2. All Secondary Schools 1. Airport for commercial flights

4. All shops to stay open until 8pm 3. Post-Secondary Schools: A- 2. Seychellois traveling abroad

Levels, GMI, UNISEY 3. Leisure boats and yachts

entering Seychelles’ territory
4. Sporting Activities
Criteria
Used in Selection and timing | phasing of measures

• Maintaining high level of hygiene

• Maintaining adequate and appropriate social and physical distancing

• Ensuring enhanced vigilance – capacity to detect suspected cases

• Ensuring rapid response capacity

Cost Estimates
Reflections on Impact of Doing Business by Implementing New Normal in Maritime Transport

• Major cost determinants of implementing the new normal in the maritime transport sector are likely to be

1. Additional cost to businesses and organisations from ensuring adequate supplies of sanitisers, cleaning materials, and PPE, as well as costs
associated with more frequent cleaning;

2. Investment in new infrastructure, systems or equipment to minimise social interaction and/or the physical exchange of documents/objects, or
to enhance hygienic or surveillance capability

3. Costs associated with changes to operations and processes, including training and rostering, to implement social distancing and hygiene
policies

• Transport will be particularly affected by items 2 and 3 due to the high volumes of people, the sunk costs of
existing infrastructure and equipment purchases, and the general high cost and specialised nature of
equipment in the sector; the estimates are difficult to quantify at this time for item 2 and there are long lead
times for procurement and changes

• Social distancing policies will have its most immediate impact on direct operational costs
Cost Estimates
Structure of transport costs: policy implications

• Social distancing policies with respect to seating and queues will have significant implications for the traveling public and to
operators

• Revenue from passenger transport operations is proportional to the number of passengers, but maritime trip costs are either
not proportional to the number of passengers or only weakly so; this is particularly the case for larger vessels such as ferries

• The application of social distancing policies to seating onboard will result in significant ticket price increases; if, for example,
the middle seat is removed in ferries, this will result in a +50% increase in per seat costs; removing every other row of seats
will result in a +100% impact on per seat costs

• The impact will be particularly pronounced for vessels with relatively small numbers of seats, or for transport where ticket
prices are controlled.

• If Government is unable to subsidise the cost of operation, the highly probable outcome will be a reduction in services and
increase in fares, and in the case of operators of smaller vessels, the combination could produce a complete cessation of
services for certain categories of transport and for remaining travel, to be unaffordable to Seychellois

• As an example, Air Seychelles’ Twin Otter cannot operate with less than 90% of its seats full if only resident fares are sold

• Public Health Authority to investigate if wearing cloth face masks on public and private transport could be a safe alternative
to social distancing
Action Plan
Stepwise phases towards “new normal”

May 4 May 11 May 18 June 1 Beyond

1. Immediate implementation of 1. Continue review of business 1. Complete review of business 1. Implement more stringent 1. Rollout new infrastructure,
low investment hygiene and processes, infrastructure processes, infrastructure hygienic and social distancing systems and equipment as
social distancing process and layout, and systems and layout, and systems and policies, with particular and when complete or arrived
policy changes with an equipment and exchange with equipment in collaboration emphasis on onboard service and training is completed,
emphasis on office and Public Health Authority with Public Health Authority changes as tourists share continue collaboration with
onshore changes
emerging concepts and ideas and roll out implementation transport with locals
Public Health Authority and
2. Commencement of cost and proceed with choices and action plan based on 2. Monitor results and share monitor and share outcomes
estimate calculations for changes as approved
procurement lead times and performance outcomes with of new processes

implementing low investment 2. Calculate costs and potential prioritised changes as Public Health Authority

“new normal” practices

savings from investment and indicated by Public Health
3. Begin systematic review of from new way of doing things
Authority

business processes, 3. As new and revised processes 2. Begin rollout of more

infrastructure layout, and
systems and equipment for
changes and possible new
investment (modification or
replacement)
are approved and made,
commence training and
provide guidance materials to
staff
restrictive low investment
hygiene and social distancing
processes, particularly
onboard, in anticipation of
arrival of first tourists (eg. Start
to make mandatory the
wearing of face masks in
certain transport cases)

3. Continue training and

preparation of staff for new
“new” normal which will follow
arrival of first visitors
02
General Considerations
 General Considerations
Objectives of social distancing and hygiene measures in transport

To prevent people from inhaling respiratory

droplets and/or suspended airborne particles
Social Distancing

To prevent people contacting saliva, faecal

matter, or other contaminated body fluids ––
either directly or as may be deposited on
surfaces
Hygiene
1https://www.easa.europa.eu/document-library/general-publications/interim-guidance-aircraft-cleaning-and-disinfection, “Interim guidance on Aircraft Cleaning and Disinfection

in relation to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemics”

 General Considerations
asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission

Silent spreaders may play a significant role in the pandemic1.

A study2 published in Nature [15 April 2020] estimated 44% (95% CI 25–69%) of secondary cases were
infected during the index cases’ pre-symptomatic stage, in settings with substantial household clustering,
active case finding, and quarantine outside the home. The authors recommended that disease control
measures be adjusted to account for probable substantial pre-symptomatic transmission.

“Ultimately, the rapid spread of Covid-19 across … the globe, the clear evidence of SARS-CoV-2 transmission
from asymptomatic persons, and the … need to relax current social distancing practices … support the
case for the general public to use face masks when in crowded outdoor or indoor spaces. This
unprecedented pandemic calls for unprecedented measures to achieve its ultimate defeat.”1

1https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2009758, “Asymptomatic Transmission, the Achilles’ Heel of Current Strategies to Control Covid-19”
2https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0869-5, “Temporal dynamics in viral shedding and transmissibility of COVID-19”
 General Considerations
Objectives of social distancing and hygiene measures in transport

• Once infected person has left, most of the risk from

droplet exposure is reduced

• Nevertheless, since the virus can remain viable and

infectious in aerosols for hours and on surfaces up to
days, aerosol and fomite transmission is plausible

• Possibility virus can remain in the travel environment on

contaminated common surfaces requires mitigating
action1 (transport is characterised by high volumes of
people in same confined spaces and common areas)

1https://www.easa.europa.eu/document-library/general-publications/interim-guidance-aircraft-cleaning-and-disinfection, “Interim guidance on Aircraft Cleaning and Disinfection

in relation to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemics”

General Considerations
At terminal and in transport

Proximity

• bar and hospitality

• porterage

• body checks

• vessel seating

bottlenecks & queues

• high volumes of people

• peak travel periods

• document checks

• security checks

• boarding/disembarkation

• passengers requiring special assistance

General Considerations
At terminal and in transport

Common Surfaces

&

Touching Potentially
Infected Objects
General Principles
PPE in transport settings

03
Maintaining a high level of hygiene
&
Adequate and appropriate social distancing
 Recommendations
Ports

• Port to make announcements to reinforce key messages, such as washing hands before and after travel, and what to
do if unwell

• All frontline staff to have access to appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and hand hygiene supplies

• Port entities to limit interactions with shipboard personnel to only those critical and essential for the continued
operation and supply of the ship.

• Except as otherwise agreed by Public Health, shipboard personnel should be restricted to the ship unless

• disembarking as part of a crew change or

• receiving emergency medical attention not available on board the ship

and approved in writing

• Port entities to assure those working in ports, and having access to ships, are provided with appropriate PPE
(including masks, hand sanitisers and other means of preventing the spread of the virus) prior to contact with
passengers and seafarers.
References: 



Public Health England: Guidance for shipping and sea ports on coronavirus (COVID-19)



Circular Letter No.4204/Add.6 (27 March 2020) Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Preliminary list of recommendations for Governments and relevant national authorities on the facilitation of
maritime trade during the COVID-19 pandemic
 Recommendations
Ports

• To reduce risks posed by interaction or exchange of documents, Port should

• promote the use of electronic solutions for ship-shore, administrative, and commercial interactions between
all entities operating in the port, and ships.

• implement a ‘Single Maritime Window’, for all information required by public authorities in connection with
the arrival, stay and departure of ships, persons and cargo, to be submitted via a single portal without
duplication

• All authorities, including customs and border control, to ensure sufficient resources to
clear and process import and export cargo shipments, ships, and crew, taking into
account any new protocols or procedures enacted for COVID-19

• All ports to implement special procedures to protect critical port workers from infection,
eg. stevedores, and to have contingencies in place if workers are in self-isolation, or are
caring for others who are infected at home or fall ill themselves.

Reference: Circular Letter No.4204/Add.6 (27 March 2020) Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Preliminary list of recommendations for Governments and relevant national authorities on the
facilitation of maritime trade during the COVID-19 pandemic
Recommendations
Ports

• Port, ship owners, and service providers to develop a written plan for enhanced
cleaning and disinfection, following standard operating procedures as outlined in
the WHO Guide to Ship Sanitation (3rd edition) or as specified by the maritime
authority, as agreed by public health

• Maritime Safety Authority to grant temporary extensions for essential ship

classification and statutory surveys and inspections, and to undertake these only
when necessary to allow ships to maintain compliance

• Port and operators to review ship schedules and consider spacing out scheduled
operations throughout the day to avoid overly large crowds

• Ferry operators to consider particular connecting schedules in Praslin, where

convenience of quick transfers is opposite to requirement of social distancing

Reference: IMO Circular Letter No.4204/Add.1 – Covid-19 – Implementation and Enforcement of relevant IMO Instruments.
Recommendations
Ship Categories

• Complete ban on very large cruise ships, and to consider on a case by case
basis operation by small “boutique" cruise ships or very large yachts or
pleasure craft

• Jet Skis and personal water craft to be limited to one rider

• Small fishing vessels and small hire craft to observe proper hygiene and social
distancing onboard at all times, with allowances for open-air quality of vessels

• Consideration to be given by Port and Fishing Authorities and private marinas

to provide specified berthing locations and quarantine areas (in collaboration
with Public Health Authority) for suspected cases of infection and to have
procedures in place for all cases
Recommendations
Passenger handling

• During preplanning, coordinate gating to avoid side by side operations wherever possible and allow guests more distance
while in boarding lounges.

• Expand stanchions to allow for adequate spacing of passengers at check in areas and security checks

• Where physical distancing is required, operators to review whether crew positions on ground and onboard should be
altered

• Limit or remove exchange of documents between passengers and workers to the extent practicable

• Use electronic boarding passes if possible and move portable boarding scanners so that passengers can scan own
boarding cards

• Encourage self baggage drop

• It may be necessary to board smaller groups of passengers in order to increase space between them while they store
carry-on baggage and take their seats.

• Develop guidelines for passengers with reduced mobility or a medical case with prior doctor clearance, families with
babies, as they may need special assurances; wheelchairs to be frequently cleaned

• Shipping agent and/or Master of Vessel must not let sick passengers or crew board any ship
Reference: IATA: Guidance for Ground Handling during COVID-19 Ed. 3, 24 April, 2020
Recommendations
Crew and service

• Increase frequency of wiping down of arm rests, seats, rails, and backs of wheelchairs, luggage trolleys

• Deck crew to monitor passengers’ seat choices during boarding, to ensure they are spread throughout the cabin as necessary.

• Where passenger load and any weight/balance limitations allow, passengers to be encouraged to move to empty seats to
increase physical distance between them.

• During disembarkation, deck crew may be required to limit the number of passengers standing to retrieve personal belongings
and to manage the number of passengers disembarking simultaneously, in order to ensure physical distancing is possible while
passengers climb out of the vessel

• Operators to provide specific passenger announcements with guidance aimed at preventing the spread of infection and special
procedures onboard. These may include cough/sneeze etiquette, any requirements for wearing of masks, and for embarking
and disembarking vessels.

• Operators to review food and beverage service and consider providing pre-packaged food services or bottled water, which
may be given prior to boarding, to minimise crew-passenger interaction

• Operators to review the design of onboard service generally, where close proximity is inherent or is core to the service offering,
e.g., onboard buffets or onshore barbeques during excursions; bartenders must wear facemasks

• Deck crew to be prepared to apply physical distancing techniques for passengers waiting to use lavatories.
Reference: IATA Guidance for Cabin Operations During and Post Pandemic Edition 1, 22 April 2020
 Recommendations
Crew and service

• Where adequate social distancing is impossible due to vessel seat design,

operators to make the wearing of cloth face masks mandatory and to consider
making available spare masks or to prevent the boarding of passengers who
do not have masks (no sew methods to make a mask are available)

• Wearing of face masks at discretion of Master of Vessels if vessel is open air or

has adequate ventilation from windows, except where otherwise directed by
the Public Health Authority

• Make use of protective equipment (single use gloves and mask) when in
contact with passengers exhibiting symptoms of an acute respiratory infection
(cough, frequent sneezing, runny nose, sore throat, difficulty breathing)

• Use gloves when handling items such as used napkins, glasses and food trays.
Reference: IATA Guidance for Cabin Operations During and Post Pandemic Edition 1, 22 April 2020
 Recommendations
Cargo and Baggage handling

• Workers should not handle packages visibly dirty from body fluids (also true for hand carried cabin baggage
of a passenger suspected of carrying a communicable disease)

• Handlers should wash hands frequently to prevent other infectious diseases.

• Unless stated otherwise by Public Health Authority or if there’s a declared health event, special handling of
cargo and baggage is not necessary; using, cleaning and sanitisation of equipment as normal, unless
otherwise directed by Health Officer or Public Health Authority

• Service providers, such as cleaners baggage handlers to be advised, if there’s an event onboard or in
terminal, and told about the associated health risk, so they can implement safe handling procedures.

• Personnel responsible for waste management should apply regular procedures for hazardous waste disposal.

• Notwithstanding the above, cargo and baggage handlers should use proper hand hygiene and wash their
hands

• When disinfecting supplies or pallets, no additional PPE is required beyond what is routinely recommended,
unless otherwise directed by Public Health Authority
References:

IATA Suspected Communicable Disease Guidelines for cargo and baggage handlers

IATA Quick Reference for Ground Handling during COVID-19

04
Ensuring enhanced vigilance
& rapid response capacity
Recommendations
All stakeholders

• SPA to provide appropriate number of thermal screening units or stations at pre-designated sites at
all ports and to activate and de-activate their use as guided by Public Health Authority

• Skippers, check-in and frontline staff to be trained on how to identify and report travellers with:

• Specific symptoms of fever (person feels warm to the touch, gives a history of feeling feverish,
or has an actual measured temperature of 38° C or higher) that have persisted for more than 48
hours

Repeated
Fever Chills Shaking with Muscle Pain
• Cough
Chills

• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

Headache Sore Throat
New Loss of
Taste of Smell
• As well as any two of the symptoms at right

or is obviously unwell:

• Suspected travellers to be immediately referred to the designated Port health officer or nearest
public health office according to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html
Recommendations
Port

• If medication is being stockpiled for treatment or preventative purposes for the event
of a COVID-19 outbreak, port authority and critical port workers, such as stevedores,
should be in distribution plan

• Medication should be taken for trial period prior to operating to determine if there are
any significant side effects

• Where there is assigned seating or separate cabins for passengers onboard for large
seagoing vessels, require passengers to complete passenger locator card forms to
identify their cabin and ship location along with information regarding their
immediate travel plans and contact details (adapt form from same required by
airlines)

• Implement an Advance Passenger Information System, directly analogous to airports

and connected to same system, as part of Single Maritime Window concept
https://www.iata.org/en/programs/safety/health/locator-form/

Annex 9 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, Facilitation, 15th Edition, October 2017, Appendix 13: “Public Health Locator Form”
Recommendations
Port

• SPA to develop a Public Health Emergency Preparedness Plan (PHEPP) in

collaboration with Public Health Authority and assign a Crisis Management Team
(CMT) to execute it

• PHEPP shall include Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the following
processes:

• Screening procedures for travellers (including a separate procedure for crew, if

necessary)

• Immigration | Customs procedures

• Handling Agent procedures

• Entry-exit of designated ambulance at the Port

Recommendations
Port

• Specified berthing locations to be identified for vessels carrying suspected cases

• Berthing locations may vary by class of ships and for different islands, such as Praslin, La Digue

• At specified berthing locations, designate a specific area with privacy, good ambient light, ventilation,
easy cleaning, access to secure toilet facilities and telecommunications for the assessment of small
groups of suspect travellers. Area should be of reasonable and sufficient size to cater for the
assessment and management of various categories of fellow travellers (e.g. family members, others in
travel group, those sitting near to the ill person, entire boat) should the need arise













Recommendations
Ships

• Crew and passengers should be given clear instructions on what to do if they develop symptoms and how
and to whom they should report this

• If someone becomes unwell while traveling and believes he has symptoms of COVID, he should notify a
crew member or a designated Port Officer and be sent home or to their cabin

• Ship captains or agents must report any cases of illness indicative of COVID-19 infection on board as
early as possible before arrival to the relevant authority in the port

• Ships must regularly monitor shipboard personnel while in port for the exhibition of any symptoms
associated with COVID-19, and to report any changes in circumstances of the health of shipboard
personnel to the relevant authority in the port.

• Ships must have thermal screening facilities to enter Port of Victoria and to have additional procedures to
check crew health during voyages, such as the provision of thermometers and taking regular temperature
checks

• Shipping Agent/Master of Vessels to submit all documents related to crew and passengers regarding their
travel to/from the COVID-19 affected countries.
Recommendations
Ships

• Ships to have sufficient number of masks onboard for suspected travellers (taking into account various categories of fellow
travellers, such as family members, others in travel group, those sitting near to suspected person, entire vessel)

• All disposable materials in potential contact with suspect traveller to be removed using biohazard precautions.

• Passenger vessels to be equipped with one or more “precaution kits” for use in managing:

i. An episode of ill health

ii. A case of illness involving contact with body fluids

• Such kits may include:

i. Dry powder that can convert small liquid spill into a granulated gel;

ii. Germicidal disinfectant for surface cleaning;

iii. Face/eye mask (separate or combined) and globes

iv. Large absorbent towel;

v. Bio-hazard disposal waste bag;

05
Case Studies
 Case Study #1
Social Distancing | Bus in Hunan, China

• A passenger “A” boarded a fully booked long-distance coach

and settled down second row from the back

• “A” felt sick but did not wear a mask, nor did most of the other
passengers, nor the driver.

• Security camera footage showed “A” did not interact with

others throughout the four-hour ride.

• By the time the bus stopped at the next city, the virus had
already jumped from the carrier to seven other passengers

• These included only people sitting relatively close to “patient

zero”, but also a couple of victims six rows from him – roughly
4.5 metres away.

• All later tested positive, including one passenger who

displayed no symptoms of the disease.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3074351/coronavirus-can-travel-twice-far-official-safe-distance-and-stay
Case Study #2
Social Distancing | Chinese restaurant

• A 10 person family which had recently fled Wuhan sat at Table A.

• An air conditioner in the upper right blew air from right to left.

• Downwind at Table B, 3 out of 4 patrons were infected.

• Upwind at Table C, 2 of 7 were infected.

• Patrons at Table B and Table C spent roughly an hour near A1.

• Nobody infected at tables E or F or in the other half of the room (not

shown).

• Given all 73 diners in the room were quarantined and no others were
infected, researchers were confident A1 was Patient Zero

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/health/airflow-coronavirus-restaurants.html
Case Study #3
Hygiene | Subways May Have Seeded the Coronavirus Epidemic in New York City

• New York City’s multi-pronged subway system was a major disseminator – if not the
principal transmission vehicle – of coronavirus infections during the initial takeoff of the
massive epidemic in March 2020.

• The near shutoff of subway ridership in Manhattan – down by over 90 percent at the end of
March – correlates strongly with the substantial increase in the doubling time of new cases
in [a particular] borough.

• Subway lines with the largest drop in ridership during the second and third weeks of March
had the lowest subsequent rates of infection in the zip codes traversed by their routes.

• Maps of subway station turnstile entries, superimposed upon zip code-level maps of
reported coronavirus incidence, are strongly consistent with subway-facilitated disease
propagation

• Correlative study and suggestive not dispositive

http://web.mit.edu/jeffrey/harris/HarrisJE_WP2_COVID19_NYC_13-Apr-2020.pdf

https://pedestrianobservations.com/2020/04/15/the-subway-is-probably-not-why-new-york-is-a-disaster-zone/