Coronavirus: ship crews at Freeport to be scanned for fever

The crews of cargo ships entering the Malta Freeport will be examined by medics to confirm they are not carrying the coronavirus, after an agreement was reached to allay the concerns of port workers.

Earlier this week, port workers refused to board ships and handle cargo arriving from Italy due to fears that their crews could be carrying COVID-19. Malta Freeport Terminals CEO Alex Montebello told BusinessToday that the situation has now returned to normal, after an agreement was reached to have ship crews scanned. 

An agreement reached on Tuesday night will see a new procedure being adopted for ships entering the Birzebbuga port. 

“The new procedure has been implemented and everything is back to normal. The arrangement was endorsed by the health authorities and follows established procedure,” Montebello said. 

The issue emerged after Malta’s port workers requested that ships be certified as being safe by a doctor in light of the virus having spread in Italy and reached Sicily. 

Every ship entering port has to have a declaration from its captain which confirm that there is no contagion on board. The captain’s declaration leads to a free pratique, where clearance is granted in terms of the ship not carrying disease. However, port workers insisted that there be an additional verification by a medical professional at the port that ships crews aren’t sick. 

Malta Dockers Union president Ryan Fava confirmed that an agreement had been reached with the Freeport. He said medics from a private company would be boarding the ship and scanning the crew’s temperatures.

“The medic will also sign the captain declaration, to put minds at rest that at the moment the ship’s crew appear to be free of disease,” Fava said.

“As a union, our primary interest is not to cause any disruptions to the industry but to safeguard the interest of port workers, our members. The situation escalated alarmingly due to the spread of the virus in Italy in the past four days,” he said, noting that port workers were alarmed that ships coming from Northern Italy, notably Genoa, could have sea farers on board who could be carrying the corona virus.

“The port workers remarked that Malta airport, catamaran and cruise liner passengers would be scanned on arrival to Malta, cargo ships would not and we would have to depend on the captain’s declaration that nobody is sick,” he highlighted.

“Together with the industry and authorities we wanted to find a system to put port workers’ mind at rest that crew members, sea farers and drivers coming on the ships are being screened in order to control the situation more.”

12 people have already died in Italy after being infected with COVID-19

Following the agreement reached for ships’ crew to be checked by medics, Fava said that efforts were being made to extend the arrangement to all terminals, with the main one being the Valletta Gateway Terminal which welcomes roll-on/roll-off (RORO) vessels. 

“I trust that we will reach an agreement to have this common system across the board,” he added.

‘We hope not to have any more problems’ - industry source

A source from Tirrenia, one of the major cargo shipping companies operating in Malta, told this newspaper that he hoped that, come Thursday morning - when the Alf Pollak, an Italian-registered RORO ship, is due to enter the Freeport - there would not be any more disruptions.

He recounted that last Monday, port workers had refused to haul cargo from the ships, but that the situation had been resolved once a port health doctor boarded the ship and signed a document confirming the vessel was contagion-free.

The source said that, although around a week ago they had been told that all crew coming aboard cargo ships would be checked, there still don’t appear to be any scanner in place at the Freeport.

It now hinged on port workers whether to accept to haul cargo, he said. “I hope things don’t take a hit because of this issue. We hope for the best and that we will have a normal morning on Thursday,” he said.

“Leaving a ship at a standstill is a loss of revenue, we cannot afford to leave ships idle,” the source added. 

Fahrenheit Freight Forwarders director Sandro Mallia told BusinessToday that some of their road freight drivers had been reporting that some factories in Italy from where they normally collected goods were closed in certain zones of the country.

“Apart from that, we haven’t had any other issues, at least till now,” he said.

Malta Chamber of Commerce requests urgent discussions with government

The Malta Chamber of Commerce said that it had actively been involved in seeking solutions in relation to delays in discharging of two vessels at the port. It said, however, that it was positive that the solutions found in these cases, will remain fruitful to avoid such instances in the future.”

The Chamber said it was monitoring the general situation concerning the effect on Maltese businesses of the global coronavirus outbreak and was keeping its members informed.

It added that it had “asked the government to hold urgent consultations on areas affecting businesses and industrial relations related the Covid-19/Coronavirus situation.”  

“The Malta Chamber is adamant that while public health and safety are the utmost priority, this does not result in increased costs for employers,” it added.

“The Malta Chamber is monitoring the situation closely and keeping its members informed with the relevant developments to the situation accordingly.  The Chamber has asked Government to hold urgent consultations on areas affecting businesses and industrial relations related the Covid-19/Coronavirus situation.  The Malta Chamber is adamant that while public health and safety are the utmost priority, this does not result in increased costs for employers.

Earlier this week, the Chamber was actively involved in seeking solutions in relation to delays in discharging of two vessels, which arose at the harbour. The Chamber is positive that the solutions found in these cases, will remain fruitful to avoid such instances in the future.”

In a similar vein, Malta Chambers of SMEs CEO Abigail Mamo told this newspaper that it was important that the arrangement reached at the port was kept up to avoid any more hiccups. She noted that, to date, no issue of supply shortages had been brought to the union’s attention by its members.

In a statement, moreover, the SMEs Chambers said that in the past weeks and days it had received increasing numbers of queries from its members about the coronavirus. 

“Our members have also reported that customers have increased their shopping patterns in view of what is happening in Italy. As a Chamber of SMEs and from the information available to us we must underline that there is no cause for alarm, everyone should go about their life normally, taking the simple precautionary measures already made public,” the Malta Chamber of SMEs said.

“In addition to this it is evident that the public is calling for all the necessary preparatory plans in terms of infrastructure and logistics as soon as possible. 

This is something that our members also want to see in order to avoid unnecessary delays and time wastage. Malta should be prepared for a worst-case scenario situation and the plans should be publicly announced to put everyone’s mind at rest,” it highlighted.

It went on to appeal for more awareness that the coronavirus has caused disruption on an international trade level. “Most of the world’s goods and materials come from China. Many goods that are imported from Europe still originate in China. China has suffered great disruption with some factories being closed until the worse is over and the country is not in a normal functioning state. This will inevitably cause delays for most imports to reach Malta,” the Malta Chamber of SMEs underlined.

“It is therefore advisable for businesses to take this into consideration and to try and plan and adjust their workflows accordingly to mitigate the impact. Businesses should also make their clients aware for order delays they are likely to experience. This will avoid unnecessary tensions at a later stage,” it said.

LIDL coy about security of supply

Given the evident increase in bulk buying by Maltese shoppers, this newspaper asked discount supermarket giant LIDL whether they could guarantee that goods which have been snatched off their shelves could be replaced and that there was a security of supply. 

Photos doing the rounds in the press and social media have shown empty shelves at supermarkets, with several shoppers rushing to buy large quantities of essentials such as toilet paper and long-life milk.

LIDL, however, limited its comments to saying that their shops were always resupplied with products.