Dear Member,
Please note the following updates to Canada’s Covid-19 testing and vaccination requirements for crew members and other marine workers.
Crew Members
We have updated our checklist for arriving and departing crew members to reflect Transport Canada’s most recent ship safety bulletin on seafarer mobility, which was issued earlier today.
The main changes in the revised checklist relate to requirements for unvaccinated crew members boarding an outbound flight from Canada, who now have the option of providing proof of a negative antigen test administered 24 hours before their scheduled departure time, rather than having to provide a more costly (and time consuming) molecular (PCR) test. This option came into effect on February 28, 2022.
There are no changes to requirements for incoming crew members, who continue to be exempt from Canada’s testing, quarantine and vaccination requirement (although the government’s preference is for all travellers to be fully vaccinated).
The updated checklist can be found at this LINK.
Requirements for Non-Crew Marine Workers
It is our understanding that non-crew marine workers seeking to enter Canada must now be fully vaccinated in order to be exempt from Canada’s quarantine and testing requirements. We will update our checklist for such workers as soon as we have received direct confirmation of the above from Transport Canada, but in the meantime, we strongly urge members to pass this message along to any non-crew workers who are expected to travel in the near future.
As a reminder, vaccinations that are accepted in Canada include the following:
- AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD
- Covaxin
- Janssen / Johnson & Johnson
- Moderna
- Pfizer-BioNTech
- Sinopharm
- Sinovadc
Shore Leave
Transport Canada’s new Ship Safety Bulletin also reinstates shore leave for all seafarers regardless of their vaccination status (as this had been temporarily rescinded for unvaccinated seafarers due to the Omicron variant). Shore leave should not exceed six hours in length per interval, and seafarers should follow the advice of their employer, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and local health officials. A copy of TC’s bulletin can be found HERE.
Sincerely,
Karen Kancens
Vice President