South Korea?Crew Change Policy Guidelines in Week 32?of 2022

South Korea: Almost 120,000 Daily New Cases, More Than 20 Million Cumulative Infected People?

As of August 3rd, there were 119,922 new confirmed cases in South Korea compared with the midnight of the previous day. The cumulative number of confirmed cases exceeded 20 million, reaching 20,052,305.

The Korean government and experts believe that summer vacations, decreased immunity and new mutated virus strains are the three major variables that will affect the future trend of the pandemic. The South Korean pandemic prevention authorities said they will promote "targeted pandemic prevention" and focus on managing groups and areas where the pandemic has worsened.

It is reported that the Korean government has decided to increase the number of one-stop medical institutions where testing, prescriptions and face-to-face treatment can be conducted simultaneously from the current 9,300 or so to 10,000 and study programs to prevent the spread of large-scale infections.?

According to the epidemic map of the global intelligent ship service management platform E-PORTS, under the influence of the new round of Omicron epidemic, the policies of South Korea main ports have been changed?on 26th Jul 2022.?

RE: UPDATED GUIDANCE FOR CREW CHANGE IN KOREA

Dear Sirs/Madams,

We’d like to inform you that Korean government has relived the regulation for COVID-19 as follows.

< Immigration Rule >

a. Resuming the Visa on Arrival for on-signers (effective from 7 June 2022)

??On-signers don’t need to get KR visa(C-3-11) in advance before arriving in Korea and Visa on Arrival(B-2-4) will be available, same as previous (before COVID-19).

??Visa on arrival is applicable for crew member only and validity period is 30 days.

??Once receiving on-signers’ personal details & e-ticket, we’ll revert with Guarantee letter & OKTB.

?

< Quarantine Rule >

b. Lift of mandatory quarantine for all travelers (effective from 8 June 2022)

??Regardless of vaccination status, on/off signers are exempted from mandatory quarantine.

??For on-signers, negative certificate of PCR test (within 48hrs) or supervised RAT test

(within 24hrs) is still required before departure for Korea.

??After arrival(on-signer) / disembarkation(off-signer) in Korea, PCR test is still required at medical institution within 1 day.

??No self-diagnosis app will need to be installed. No quarantine transportation will be used, which means on/off signers can use the public transportation (Incl. domestic airport) or car arranged by agent.

??Thus, please be advised of the following procedure for crew change under new Quarantine regulation.

?

At Airport / for On-signing crew members

A. Submission of PCR or RAT report is still required through following Q-Code Website.

https://cov19ent.kdca.go.kr

B. Following docs should be prepared/submitted for above procedure.

①?Passport,

②?E-mail address,

③?E-ticket,

④?PCR negative report (testing time should be within 48hrs before departure) or supervised RAT negative report (testing time should be within 24hrs before departure)

⑤?Address of temporary lodging in?Korea (to be provided by agent)

C. QR Code will be issued after submitting all required info/docs.

D. When on-signers fly to Korea, they must hold the following docs.

①?PCR or RAT negative report

②?QR Code issued from Q-Code Website

E. Based on the above regulation, we would recommend following procedure.

i. To Meet at Incheon airport after passing through arrival gate.

ii. To do PCR test at airport, being assisted by agent and move to joining port. (If arrive in Korea later than 1800hrs, move to the area of joining port and do PCR test at medical institute on 2nd day).

iii. After receiving the result (maximum one day), join the vessel.

F. In case crew gets POSITIVE result on PCR test, he will be transferred to and quarantined at residential medical center for 7 days, which means HE CAN JOIN THE VESSEL AFTER COMPLETING 7 DAYS QUARANTINE.

- Ex) If crew get confirmed on 1 Jun, he will be released at 0001hrs on 8 Jun.

- In case the vessel is decided to sail without embarkation of confirmed on-signer due to 7 days quarantine, after completion 7 days quarantine, the crew can be repatriated or join another vessel under same Owner subject to Immigration’s permission.

????

At port / for Off-signing crew members

A. If crews on-singing has been arranged within 14 days before coming to Korea (regardless of the countries), on signers still MUST hold PCR negative certificate issued within 72hrs (or supervised RAT negative certificate issued within 24hrs) before sailing or joining.

B. PCR test before disembarkation is no longer required, which means off-signers can disembark on ship’s arrival date subject to actual arrival time.

C. But, off-signers need to visit the Quarantine site in person for face-to-face check & submission of quarantine relevant docs (Opening hours of quarantine site varies by port).

D. After receiving Quarantine certificate from Quarantine office, off-signers need to disembark within 72hrs.

E. Based on the above regulation, we would recommend following procedure.

i. To disembark off-signers & visit the Quarantine site during opening hour.

ii. After receiving Quarantine certificate (which is required for shore pass) from Quarantine office, to require shore pass from Immigration office. Due to this arrangement, off-signers may need to wait/standby at Quarantine site for 1~2hrs.

iii. To arrange PCR test nearby or Incheon airport subject to disembarking port/time and departure date.

iv. After receiving the result (maximum one day), take repatriation flight.

F. In case crew gets POSITIVE result on PCR test, he will be transferred to and quarantined at residential medical center for 7 days, which means HE CAN REPATRIATE AFTER COMPLETING 7 DAYS QUARANTINE.

- Ex) If crew get confirmed on 1 Jun, he will be released at 0001hrs on 8 Jun.

Hope to find the above and should you require further information, please feel free to contact us.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Eastern Shipping Co., Ltd.

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On E-PORTS platform, COVID-19 Global Port Restriction Map collects information of main ports in the world and releases authoritative and official announcements of various policy changes caused by the COVID-19. For more details about port restrictions and crew change information, please visit: https://www.e-ports.com/app/virusmap.html

Click on each country in the map to display the crew change policy for the country.

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