SBMA earns P65.73M from crew-change program

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has generated a total of P65.73 million in income from participating in the government’s crew-change program that facilitated the safe and speedy travel of Filipino and foreign seafarers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the additional revenue was realized after 16 months of processing seafarers following the designation of the Subic Bay Freeport as a crew-change hub in September 2020.

The total income came from the P14.64 million that was earned from September to December 2020, and the P51.09 million that was collected in the 12 months last year.

Eisma pointed out this did not include income earned by local hotels and other tourism-related businesses that provided quarantine rooms and other services for the disembarked seamen.

“The P65.7-million income is an additional windfall that SBMA earned by banking on Subic’s strict enforcement of health safety protocols,” Eisma noted.

“And it was realized after Subic took the opportunity—despite initial disapproval by some neighboring LGUs—to provide much-needed service at a time when only a few ports wanted to take in seafarers because of the virus threat,” she added.

Eisma said that the SBMA decided favorably on the crew-change project because it would not only bring crewmen home to their families, but would also help unlock congestion in ports and reboot the global supply chain that has been heavily impacted by the pandemic.

According to the SBMA Seaport Department, a total of 254 crew-change operations were undertaken in Subic in the 16 months since September 2020. These involved 62 vessels in 2020 and 192 ships in 2021.

On the average, around 12 to 15 ships arrive in Subic each month for crew change, said Seaport general manager Jerome Martinez. But on busy times as many as 25 ships could call in Subic in a month, as they did in June last year, or even 33 as they did last November.

The ships arrive either to take in new on-signers to refresh the crew, or disembark off-signers who must go on vacation or visit their families.

Martinez said that in the last 16 months, the port of Subic was able to process a total of 2,001 on-signers, of which 1,931 were Filipinos and 70 were foreigners of various nationalities.

At the same time, a total of 1,927 off-signers came onshore through Subic. These included 1,743 Filipinos and 184 foreigners, Martinez said.

The seafarers arrived in all kinds of ships like the MT Dapeng Star, a liquified natural gas tanker which was the first vessel to call in Subic under the crew-change program; MV Mindoro, a Panama-flagged vehicles carrier; MT Jason, a chemical tanker from Marshall Islands; MT Euro Integrity, a Liberian-flagged crude oil tanker; MV Nine Eagle, a Panama-flagged livestock carrier; and CS Cable Retriever, a dredging and cable-laying ship based in Singapore.

Aside from Subic and the Manila South Harbor, the other designated crew-change hubs in the country are in the port of Batangas, Port of Cebu, Port Capinpin in Orion, Bataan and Port of Sasa in Davao.

Under the crew change program, disembarking seafarers have to quarantine in facilities designated under the One Stop Shop (OSS) for Seafarers until testing negative in RT-PCR Covid-19 test which is taken on the sixth day after arrival. (MPD-SBMA)

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Subic develops corporate jet maintenance ‘bubble’

Intending to capitalize on Subic’s health safety record as an international gateway, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has developed an end-to-end platform that will deliver corporate jet maintenance service despite the continuing Covid-19 pandemic.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the “Corporate Jet Maintenance Bubble” (CJMB) will be located at the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA), which also houses a crew-change hub for mariners that is being operated by the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

“The corporate jet maintenance bubble works with roughly the same concept—it will be a complete process that precludes any third-party engagement because the accommodations, amenities and services are all in one place, and everything stays isolated,” Eisma explained.

She said the SBMA recognized the financial pressure faced by the aviation industry and had developed the CJMB to provide a safe, seamless, and efficient mechanism that will enable business jet operators in the Asia-Pacific region to meet their maintenance needs here in the Philippines despite the Covid-19 crisis.

Eisma said the CJMB was developed in accordance with Resolution No. 84 of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), which authorized the SBMA to set up a corporate jet flight maintenance and crew layover hub at the Subic Freeport under a strict “bubble” concept, as recommended by the DOTr and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).

“With this project, we can also generate income for the Subic airport and once more push its potential as a regional aviation hub,” Eisma added.

Under the bubble concept, business jets may come into Subic for maintenance work without the limiting restrictions currently being implemented at other local airports.

The end-to-end process was carefully tailored to ensure a level of safety that would meet existing guidelines from regulatory agencies like CAAP, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Air Transport Association (IATA), as well as the World Health Organization (WHO), Department of Health (DOH), and the IATF.

Significantly, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced the lifting of travel restrictions on the 36 countries with reported cases of the new Covid-19 variants starting February 1, following a directive from the IATF.

Eisma said the SBMA “will strive to continuously work with the IATF, BI, DOTr and other stakeholders to ensure transparency and commitment to safety while facilitating the safe positioning of flights and their respective crew to and from Subic.”

The SBMA had approved an aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility at the Subic airport as early as August 2019, giving services provider Aviation Concepts Technical Services Inc. (ACTSI) its go-ahead for the full development of the local airport as a 24/7 hub for business aviation.

The SBMA had since marketed SBIA for its strategic location, it being only 1.5 hours away from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan and just 3 hours away from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

The SBMA has also stressed the wealth of manpower talent and cost-effectiveness as some of the major advantages of doing business in Subic over other areas. (MPD-SBMA)

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Subic services 37 ships under crew-change program

Two months after joining the government’s crew-change program, the Port of Subic has serviced a total of 37 ships and enabled more than 500 mostly Filipino seafarers to either take badly-needed rest or renew work aboard commercial vessels.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the crew-change program is a direct response to President Duterte's call that no one should be left behind in government efforts to ensure the safety of all Filipinos and provide assistance to vulnerable groups in face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We understand that crew change is necessary for the health and safety of seafarers,” Eisma said. “And considering that around 80,000 Filipino seafarers with lapsed contracts are stranded aboard their ships, there is a lot to be done to ensure movement among seafarers, especially Filipinos, during this humanitarian and economic crisis.”

Subic started operations as a crew-change hub on September 10 with the arrival here of five Filipino seafarers who were stranded for about three months aboard MV Dapeng Star, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker based in Hong Kong.

Since then, One Stop Shop (OSS) Subic, the inter-agency task force which manages the Subic crew-change operations, has recorded a total of 260 “off-signers”, or inbound ship crew, and 255 “on-signers”, or outbound seafarers, as of Monday, November 9.

Of the total 515 seafarers who either arrived or departed in Subic under the program, only 24—or 12 on-signers and 12 off-signers—were foreigners.

Ships of all shapes and sizes have arrived here for crew-change. These included MV RTM Cook, a bulk carrier based in Singapore, with seven Filipino on-signers and 11 off-signers; LNG Dapeng Moon, a tanker based in Hong Kong, with five Filipino on-signers; MV Mindoro, a Panama-flagged vehicles carrier with three on-signers and two off-signers, all Filipino; MT Jason, a chemical tanker from Marshall Islands with 12 Filipino on-signers, and one Croatian and 13 Filipino off-signers; MT Euro Integrity, a Liberian-flagged crude oil tanker with 15 on-signers and 16 off-signers, all Filipino; and MV Nine Eagle, a Panama-flagged livestock carrier with five on-signers and five off-signers, all Filipino.

SBMA Seaport Department manager Jerome Martinez, meanwhile, stressed that OSS Subic has laid out strict health and safety protocols for the program, with all outbound and inbound seafarers undergoing RTC-PCR testing prior to departure from Subic or upon arrival at the Subic Bay International Airport.

“In case an on-signer tests positive, he is brought back point-to-point to Manila where he was swab-tested. Meanwhile, upon disembarking, off-signers are brought directly to the Subic-OSS for swab testing, after which they are transported to an isolation facility in Manila,” Martinez explained.

He added that in the two months period that crew-change has been undertaken in Subic, only one positive case among seafarers has been recorded.

Seafarers have been designated “key workers” by many countries, including the Philippines, which belong to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to enable them to travel to and from ships and ensure the operation of commercial vessels.

The IMO said that commercial ships now transport more than 80% of global trade by volume, including vital food and medicine, energy and raw materials, as well as manufactured goods. (MPD-SBMA)

PHOTOS:

[1] Inbound seafarers from MV Devon Bay, all clad in personal protective equipment, await transportation upon arrival at the Subic Bay Freeport on November 6.

[2] A sanitation worker disinfects baggage, as inbound seafarers from MV Devon Bay await transportation upon arrival at the Subic Bay Freeport on November 6.

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Subic crew-change hub begins operations

Subic started operations as a crew-change hub on Thursday, September 10, with the arrival here of five Filipino seafarers who finally disembarked after being stranded aboard their ship for several months due to port restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said this was the first batch of crewmen to arrive here after Subic was designated by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) as a hub for international crew change.

The five Filipinos disembarked from MV Dapeng Star, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker based in Hong Kong.

“The operation went without a hitch and was over in just a matter of three hours,” Eisma said. She recounted that at 7:40 a.m., a tugboat left the San Bernardino jetty here to meet up with Dapeng Star, which had anchored near Grande Island at the mouth of Subic Bay.

The tugboat carried personnel from the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) and the Coast Guard, who conducted the initial health check-up of the inbound seafarers and had them suited up in personal protective equipment (PPE) prior to disembarkation.

“At 10 a.m. the tugboat was back at the jetty, the five seafarers in blue PPEs got off, had their baggage checked by K-9, boarded a van to the One-Stop-Shop (OSS) at the Subic airport where they got swabbed for RT-PCR test and had their documents processed by the Bureau of Quarantine and Bureau of Immigration,” Eisma noted.

“At exactly 11:14 a.m., or just over three hours, the seafarers were already departing for the Manila Grand Opera Hotel, which shall serve as their quarantine facility for 14 days,” she added.

The opening of the Subic crew-change hub is expected to ease the current congestion in Manila Bay where merchant ships with Filipino crewmen await their turn to disembark their crew and take in fresh personnel. The Philippines is among the biggest suppliers of manpower in the shipping industry today.

Eisma pointed out that the problem on crew-change does not only concern crewmen longing to go home to their families, or the congested ports where ships await their turn to disembark their crew.

“It is, in fact, a problem of huge proportion because it affects the global supply chain,” she said. “With the start of crew-change operations here, Subic becomes a part of the solution to this global problem,” she added.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr), which spearheads the inter-agency project, said the Subic operation is part of the “Philippine Green Lane” put up for the speedy and safe travel of seafarers and swift crew change during the Covid-19 pandemic. The other crew-change hubs are the Port of Manila and Port Capinpin in Bataan.

Subic was designated as a crew change hub in July, and was formally opened on August 22. However, operations here only involve point-to-point embarkation and disembarkation pending approval of the second phase where inbound seafarers could quarantine in local hotels after their RT-PCR test.

DOTr Assistant Secretary Narciso Vingson, who supervised the maiden crew-change operation in Subic, stressed that crew-change protocols were strictly observed and that a “no-contact” policy was put in place to ensure the safety of the seafarers and the attending personnel.

Vingson said that prior to debarkation, the seafarers were made to undergo customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) procedures on board the ship. Thereafter, they were debriefed, RT-PCR tested and processed at the Subic OSS, before transported to a mandatory quarantine facility in Manila.  (MPD-SBMA)

PHOTOS:

[1] Filipino crewmen disembark from the LNG tanker Dapeng Star anchored on Subic Bay during the first crew-change operation in the Subic Bay Freeport on Thursday, Sept. 10

[2] Disembarked Filipino seafarers arrive at the San Bernardino jetty during the first crew-change operation in the Subic Bay Freeport on Thursday, Sept. 10

[3] A newly-disembarked Filipino seafarer gives the thumbs up during the first crew-change operation in the Subic Bay Freeport on Thursday, Sept. 10

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DOTr holds dry run to test Subic crew-change protocols

 The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Friday conducted a dry run in the point-to-point embarkation and debarkation of seafarers in preparation for the proposed activation of the Port of Subic as a crew-change hub.

The practice run held at the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) complex involved departure and arrival procedures at the former Hanjin ferry landing near the airport, using tugboats to transport the crew to and from ships at anchorage.

Meanwhile, the more complex arrival procedure was simulated at the Subic airport terminal where new arrivals would undergo the required swab test, have their documents processed at a one-stop-shop, and thereafter proceed to a mandatory quarantine facility.

In the test run, DOTr officials gave assurances on the safety of the procedures and said the crew-change protocols to be implemented here are the best practices in the maritime sector.

“The system we are implementing has incorporated lessons we have learned from earlier activities,” said Vice Admiral Narciso Vingson, who is DOTr assistant secretary for communications and commuter affairs.

“During the mass repatriation of seafarers from cruise ships, there were steps that have already been corrected to ensure that health will not be compromised – for the workers and the seafarers. To be able to check this, we have involved all parties, national and local government and agencies,” Vingson added.

 

The simulations on Friday were witnessed by representatives of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), local government units (LGUs) around the Subic Bay Freeport, and other agencies involved in the project.

Feedback from LGU representatives present in Friday’s dry run focused mostly on local workers who might be exposed to Covid-19 infection during crew-change operations, a concern raised earlier by SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma.

Eisma said that Subic is willing to host the crew-change hub project, but stressed that safety measures should be in place in all phases of the project and that LGUs should be consulted in all aspects because workers who would man crew-change facilities will come from communities contiguous to Subic.

So far, Eisma said, the SBMA board of directors had only approved the first phase of the project, which involves the point-to-point embarkation of seafarers, pending local consensus on the second phase which involves the quarantine of arriving crewmen in hotels within the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

In the dry run, DOTr Undersecretary Raul Del Rosario, who is administrator of the Office for Transport Security (OTS), pointed out that the one-stop-shop system would not allow direct exposure between seafarers and processors who would be coming from the Bureau of Quarantine, and that no airport staff would be directly involved in the crew-change operation.

Regarding phase two, Del Rosario said the safety requirements of LGUs “can be met easily because they have already been included in the protocols.” 

“All hotel workers will be housed. They will be quarantined for 14 days before being allowed to go home,” he added.

Del Rosario also said that in order to ensure transparency of crew-change operations, LGUs will be represented in the one-stop-shop monitoring team, which will be given updates and reports on a regular basis.

The activation of Subic as crew-change hub is national government undertaking involving the DOTr as lead agency, and supported by the Department of Health, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Interior and Local Government, the SBMA, and other government agencies. 

The project seeks to implement the so-called Philippine Green Lane to facilitate the speedy and safe travel of seafarers, including their safe and swift crew change during the Covid-19 pandemic.  (MPD-SBMA)

PHOTOS:

[1-] “Outbound seafarers” arrive at the Subic ferry landing for ship embarkation during a crew-change dry run conducted by the Department of Transportation at the Subic Bay Freeport on Friday, Aug. 14.

[2] “Outbound seafarers” ride a tugboat to embark on a ship during a crew-change dry run. 

[3] “Inbound seafarers” undergo swabbing and processing of documents. 

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