給政府及相關國家主管機關於 COVID-19 大流行期間

便利海上貿易的初步建議

秘書長特別提出，G20 於 2020 年 3 月 26 日因應 COVID-19 新冠病毒疫情舉行的領導人高峰會議結果，特別針對國際貿易中斷的商議結果如下：

解決國際貿易中斷問題

為滿足公民的需求，我們會盡力確保必要醫療用品、重要農產品以及其他商品和服務的跨國流動，並努力解決全球供應鏈中斷的問題，為全球人民謀健康和福祉。

我們承諾會繼續共同努力在不對國際交通及貿易造成非必要影響的情況下促進國際貿易、協調應變措施。以保護健康為目標的緊急措施是有針對性、符合比例原則、透明且暫時性的。我們責成各貿易部長評估疫情對貿易的影響。

再次重申，我們的目標是實現自由、公平、無歧視、透明、可預測且穩定的貿易和投資環境，並維持市場的開放。

我們與 G20 各國領導人的重要對話看法一致，秘書長收到了由多個具海運業諮詢代表地位的全球性產業協會（包括 ICS、BIMCO、CLIA、FONASBA、IACS、IAPH、IMCA、IMEC、INTERCARGO、INTERFERRY、INTERMANAGER、INTERTANKO、IPTA、ITF、P&I Clubs 和 WSC）因應新冠病毒疫情而提出的「給政府及相關國家主管機關於 COVID-19 大流行期間便利海上貿易的初步建議」。請各會員國及國際組織酌情運用所附之建議。

秘書長也要重申最近發表的關於疫情的聲明，為便您參考，茲附如下：

「在這段非常時期，船舶和船員運輸重要物資（如醫療用品和食物）的能力，將是因應和最終克服疫情的關鍵。」

因此，不讓海上貿易受到非必要的干擾，是最為重要的。同時，保障海上工作者生命安全及維護海洋環境，也一樣重要。

誠如公約所述，IMO 的宗旨之一，就是保障海運服務在全球商業貿易中有持續的可用性，以維人類福祉。我期盼所有 IMO 成員國在制定因應冠狀病毒的政策時，能牢記這一點。戰勝病毒是第一要務，但是安全、穩定和環境友善的全球貿易模式也必須持續下去。

同時莫忘數萬名在船上工作的船員。他們無意間身處這個全球災難的第一線，有賴他們的專業訓練，才能確保我們所需的物資都能在最安全、對環境影響最小的情況下運輸。這些船員多半與故鄉和家人相隔遙遠，他們的健康和福祉，就和我們每個人一樣重要。

我要再次敦促各會員在這段非比尋常的時期，採取務實的方法解決諸如船員更換、補給、維修、測驗以及船員檢定和發證的問題。

IMO 也一直與業界夥伴及 WHO 的同仁合作，針對與冠狀病毒相關的技術和操作問題制定及發布實用建議和指導準則。內容請見我們的網站，我們也會視情況發展隨時更新。

我將主動發起與航運、港口和其他重要相關部門的領導人的一系列會議和磋商，讓彼此都能更充分地了解我們所面臨的問題，並制定出合理、實用且一致的解決方案。

我多次提到我們要「一同航行」，如今這樣的時刻，最能彰顯這句話的精神。

***

附件

給政府及相關國家主管機關於 COVID-19 大流行期間

便利海上貿易的初步建議

新型冠狀病毒 (COVID-19) 大流行是全球性的公共衛生危機，政府的應對措施包括維持全球供應鏈，以確保全世界的醫療用品、食品、能源和原料，以及維繫就業環境必須的製造品和零件，能繼續送達預期的目的地。在這段全球危機時期，保持供應鏈開放、讓海上貿易、運輸和服務持續不中斷，比以往任何時候都更為重要。

海上運輸約佔世界貿易的 90%，因此各國政府必須協助其領土範圍內的航運及港口持續營運，讓海上貨物運輸不受阻、供應鏈不中斷，全球經濟和整體社會能繼續在疫情中屹立不搖。

各國政府都在實施保護公眾健康和解決 COVID-19 的政策和措施，格外要注意的是這些政策和措施不能妨礙船舶和港口作業，包括以更換船員為目的的船員及海事人員（特別包括 IMO 相關文書或國際勞工組織的《2006 年海事勞工公約》之定義）流動，以及更廣泛的港口生態系統如碼頭、倉庫、鐵路和貨車運輸等等。

船舶和港口必須保持完全的運作狀態，以維持供應鏈的完整性。因此各國政府及相關國家主管機關，應與該國航運和港口部門的適當利益關係人討論，以安排持續促進國際海上貿易（包括與港口腹地的聯繫）。

本文件的宗旨是提供一些初步建議，幫助各國政府及相關國家主管機關在 COVID-19 大流行期間採取務實的方法促進船舶運輸和港口運行。

港口碼頭泊位可供使用

強烈鼓勵各政府及國家主管機關確保所有來訪的商船能夠繼續進入各港口和碼頭的泊位，同時，隔離檢疫限制不施加於船舶本身，以免影響駛入泊位、及時裝卸貨或其他重要行動。

方便船舶於港口更換船員的措施

建議各政府及相關國家主管機關：

²  指定專業的船員及海事人員，只要在其管轄範圍之內，不論人員國籍，均視為提供基本服務的「關鍵工作者」。

²  授予專業船員及海事人員一切必要及適當的國內旅行或行動限制豁免，以便他們上下船舶。

²  接受特別是正式船員證書、離職證明、STCW 證書、船員僱傭契約和海事雇主聘任信函等證明文件，以備必要時證明更換之船員為專業船員。

²  允許專業船員及海事人員在港口下船以及為更換船員及遣返之目的穿越其領土（即前往

²  機場）。

²  基於更換船員及遣返之目的，為要求下船的船員實施適當的經核准篩選的規定。

²  提供各船舶及船員根據 WHO 建議訂定的 COVID-19 基本防護措施資訊。

便利港口（及相關）作業的措施

建議各政府及相關國家主管機關：

²  將港口工人、港口當局及港口服務人員，以及其他重要輔助人員如引水人、帶纜拖船和挖泥船船員，以及船舶供應商，視為「關鍵工作者」，因為不論隸屬於公部門或私部門，這些人員均提供便利運輸和港口營運的基本服務，以維持貨物流動和其他重要經濟活動。

²  確保因應 COVID-19 的所有特殊要求及船舶到港前的必要資訊，均有效地分享且盡快傳達給國際航運及所有利益相關者，例如船舶代理商等等。

²  加強港口和船舶上所有實體之間的船岸通信、管理及商業交流的電子設備運用，以減少肢體互動或文件交換帶來的風險。

²  考量到因應 COVID-19 制定的任何新規定或程序，以及某些港口工人可能處於自主隔離、照顧他人或本身患病的狀態，應確保港口的海關、邊境管制站和港口衛生當局，有足夠的資源以處理進出的貨物、船舶和船員。

²  應妥善安排讓引水人能夠繼續上下船、往返他們服務的船舶，持續提供維繫航行安全的服務。

²  允許必要的船舶分級和法定檢驗及船舶檢查，以維持船舶符合法規（儘管會員國可能會可能給予相關的臨時延展）。

港口內維護健康衛生的措施

建議各政府及相關國家主管機關：

²  要求船舶在抵達港口前，儘早將船上任何具有 COVID-19 感染症狀的病例報告提供給相關港口當局。

²  建議船舶在港口期間定期檢查船上人員是否出現 COVID-19 相關症狀，並向港口當局回報船上人員健康的相關變化。

²  除非因更換船員或接受船上無法取得的緊急醫療而下船，否則應考量到在港口期間船上人員的暫時限制（除非或直到情況允許）。

²  盡可能減少港口內實體的船上人員互動次數，僅維持船舶營運和供應所需的最低必要互動。

²  提供港口工人根據 WHO 建議訂定的 COVID-19 基本防護措施資訊。

²  確保在港口工作且可以進出船舶的人員，在接觸船員之前，均配備適當的個人保護裝備（可能包括口罩、消毒洗手液和其他防止病毒傳播的裝備）

²  要求港口當局和港口工人遵守因應 COVID-19 針對訪問船舶實施的任何檢查或其他規定或程序。

²  萬一發生緊急情況，提供船員提供上岸緊急就醫之服務。

也請參閱 IMO 日前發布的通告：

²  通告 No.4204/Add.1 – Covid-19 – IMO 相關文書的實施及執行

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Coronavirus  (COVID-19)  –  Preliminary  list  of  recommendations  for Governments  and  relevant  national  authorities  on  the  facilitation  of maritime trade during the COVID-19 pandemic

The Secretary-General wishes to refer to the outcome of the G20  Leaders Summit on COVID-19 of 26 March 2020, which, inter alia, addressed international trade disruptions and agreed as follows:

Addressing International Trade Disruptions

Consistent with the needs of our citizens, we will work to ensure the flow of vital medical supplies, critical agricultural products, and other goods and services across borders, and work to resolve disruptions to the global supply chains, to support the health and well-being of all people.

We commit to continue working together to facilitate international trade and coordinate responses in ways that avoid unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade.   Emergency   measures   aimed   at   protecting   health   will   be   targeted, proportionate, transparent and temporary. We task our Trade Ministers to assess the impact of the pandemic on trade.

We  reiterate  our  goal  to  realize  a  free,  fair,  non-discriminatory,  transparent, predictable and stable trade and investment environment, and to keep our markets open."

Consistent with this important communication from G20 leaders, the Secretary-General has received  a  Preliminary  list  of  recommendations  for  Governments  and  relevant  national authorities on the facilitation of maritime trade during the COVID-19 pandemic, proposed by a broad cross section of global industry associations with consultative status representing the maritime transportation sector: ICS, BIMCO, CLIA, FONASBA, IACS, IAPH, IMCA, IMEC, INTERCARGO, INTERFERRY, INTERMANAGER, INTERTANKO, IPTA, ITF, P&I Clubs and WSC, in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Member States and international organizations are invited, as appropriate, to make use of the annexed recommendations.

The Secretary-General also wishes to reiterate the message contained in his most recent statement concerning the pandemic which, for ease of reference, is set out below:

"In these difficult times, the ability for shipping services and seafarers to deliver vital goods, including medical supplies and foodstuffs, will be central to responding to, and eventually overcoming, this pandemic.

It is, therefore, crucially important that the flow of commerce by sea should not be unnecessarily disrupted. At the same time, the safety of life at sea and protection of the marine environment must also remain paramount.

One of the goals of IMO, as stated in its Convention, is to ensure availability of shipping services to the commerce of the world, for the benefit of humanity. I urge all IMO Member States to bear this in mind when framing their policy decisions with regard to the coronavirus. Defeating the virus must be the first priority, but global trade, in a safe, secure and environmentally friendly manner must be able to continue, too.

We must also remember the hundreds of thousands of seafarers on ships. They are, unwittingly, on the front line of this global calamity. Their professionalism ensures that the goods we all need are delivered – safely and with minimal impact on our precious environment. These are people, usually far from home and family. Their own health and welfare is as important as that of anyone else.

Again, I urge a practical and pragmatic approach, in these unusual times, to issues like crew changeovers, resupply, repairs, survey and certification and licensing of seafarers.

Together with our industry partners and colleagues in the World Health Organization, IMO has been developing and issuing practical advice and guidance on a variety of technical and operational matters related to the coronavirus. You can find this on our website, and we will be updating this as appropriate as the situation develops.

I will personally be initiating a series of meetings and consultations with leaders from shipping, ports and other key related sectors so that we can all better understand the issues being faced and develop sensible, practical and unified solutions.

I have spoken many times of our "voyage together". Never has the spirit of those words been more important than it is now."

***

ANNEX

PRELIMINARY LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GOVERNMENTS AND RELEVANT

NATIONAL AUTHORITIES ON THE FACILITATION OF MARITIME TRADE

DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a global public health crisis, the response to which by Governments requires the maintenance of global supply chains to ensure that the world's medical supplies, food, energy and raw materials, as well as manufactured goods and components  vital  to  the  preservation  of  employment,  continue  to  reach  their  intended destinations. In this time of global crisis, it is more important than ever to keep supply chains open and maritime trade, transport and services moving.

Maritime transport carries around 90% of world trade, so it is vital that Governments facilitate the continuing operation of shipping, and ports under their jurisdiction, to allow the transport of marine cargoes so that supply chains are not disrupted and to allow the global economy, and society as a whole, to continue to function throughout the pandemic.

As Governments around the world are implementing policies and measures to protect public health and address COVID-19, it is important that these are developed without the introduction of obstacles to ship and port operations, including the movement of seafarers and marine personnel (as defined, inter alia, by relevant IMO instruments or the ILO Maritime Labour Convention, 2006) for the purposes of crew change, as well as the wider functionality of port ecosystems (terminals, warehouses, rail and trucking, etc.).

Ships and ports need to remain fully operational, in order to maintain complete functionality of supply chains. Governments and their relevant national authorities should therefore engage with appropriate stakeholders within their national shipping and ports sectors to discuss arrangements for the continued facilitation of international maritime trade, including port hinterland connections.

The purpose of this document is to provide some preliminary recommendations that may assist Governments and their relevant national authorities to take a pragmatic and practical approach to the facilitation of shipping and port operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Providing access to berths in ports

Governments and national authorities are strongly encouraged to ensure that all visiting commercial ships continue to have access to berths in port and terminals, and that quarantine restrictions are not imposed on the ship itself which prevent access to a berth and the timely discharge and/or loading of cargoes or other critical activities.

Measures to facilitate crew changes in ports

Governments and relevant national authorities are recommended to:

²  Designate professional seafarers and marine personnel, regardless of nationality when in their jurisdiction, as "key workers" providing an essential service.

²  Grant professional seafarers and marine personnel with any necessary and appropriate exemptions from national travel or movement restrictions in order to facilitate their joining or leaving ships.

²  Accept, inter alia, official seafarers' identity documents, discharge books, STCW certificates, seafarer employment agreements and letters of appointment from the maritime employer, as evidence of being a professional seafarer, where necessary, for the purposes of crew changes.

²  Permit professional seafarers and marine personnel to disembark ships in port and transit through their territory (i.e. to an airport) for the purposes of crew changes and repatriation.

²  Implement appropriate approval and screening protocols for seafarers seeking to disembark ships for the purposes of crew changes and repatriation.

²  Provide information to ships and crews on basic protective measures against

COVID-19 based on WHO advice.

Measures to facilitate port (and related) operations

Governments and relevant national authorities are recommended to:

²  Identify port workers, port authority and port service personnel, and, inter alia, other vital ancillary personnel such as pilots, mooring tug and dredger crew, and ship suppliers as "key workers" because they provide an essential service to facilitating shipping and port operations to maintain the movement of cargoes and the conduct of other vital economic activities, regardless of whether they are public or private sector employees.

²  Ensure that any special requirements or pre-arrival information required from arriving  ships,  due  to  measures  introduced  in  response  to  COVID-19,  are effectively shared and communicated as quickly as possible to international shipping and all relevant stakeholders such as ships' agents, etc.

²  Promote  the  use  of  electronic  solutions  for  ship-shore,  administrative  and commercial interactions between all entities operating in a port and ships in order to reduce the risks posed by interaction or the exchange of documents.

²  Ensure customs and border control stations in ports, and port health authorities, are provided with sufficient resources to clear and process import and export cargo shipments, ships and crew, taking into account any new protocols or procedures enacted as a result of COVID-19 or for the fact that some port workers may be in self-isolation, caring for others or ill themselves.

²  Have arrangements in place so that pilots can continue to embark and disembark from visiting ships to which they are providing critical services to ensure safe navigation.

²  Permit any essential ship's classification and statutory surveys and inspections to  be  undertaken  when  these  are  necessary  to  allow  ships  to  maintain compliance, (notwithstanding any temporary extensions that may be granted by Member States).

Measures to ensure health protection in ports

Governments and relevant national authorities are recommended to:

²  Request ships to 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.

²  Advise ships to regularly monitor shipboard personnel while in port for the exhibition of any symptoms associated with COVID-19, and report any changes in circumstances of the health of shipboard personnel to the relevant authority in the port.

²  Consider temporarily restricting shipboard personnel to the ship while in port (except or until the situation permits otherwise) unless disembarking as part of a crew change or to receive emergency medical attention not available on board the ship.

²  Limit, as far as possible, the number of interactions with shipboard personnel by entities in the port to only those critical and essential for the continued operation and supply of the ship.

²  Provide  information  to  port  workers  on  basic  protective  measures  against COVID-19 based on WHO advice.

²  Ensure those working in ports and having access to ships are provided with appropriate personal protection equipment (which could include masks, hand sanitizers and other means of preventing the spread of the virus) prior to contact with seafarers.

²  Request port authorities and port workers to comply with any screening or other protocols or procedures introduced by visiting ships to address COVID-19.

²  Provide seafarers with access to emergency medical treatment ashore in the event of medical emergencies.

Reference is also invited to the following previously issued IMO Circular Letter:

²  Circular Letter No.4204/Add.1 – Covid-19 – Implementation and Enforcement of relevant IMO Instruments.