Concern over ships, but assurances that all protocols are in place

The ships keep sailing in, the Sunday Times found, with the next cruise-liner, ‘MSC Splendida’ due on Tuesday (March 3) at the Colombo Port with 3,959 passengers and 1,325 crew members.

The ‘MSC Splendida’ will arrive in Colombo from Thailand having been to Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and China.

“These are the vessels which have touched base in infected areas (Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and China) we need to be careful about,” many sources said, while the Sri Lanka Ports' Authority (SLPA) Chairman General (Rtd) R.M. Daya Ratnayake assured that the ports are safe.

The Deputy Director of the Port Health Services, Dr. Roshan Sampath said that ships arriving from countries such as China, South Korea and Italy are considered 'high risk'. All passengers and crew are screened thoroughly before they disembark. If any tourists wish to travel within Sri Lanka, they would be tracked by the Medical Officers of Health (MOH) of the relevant areas. If any Sri Lankans disembark and leave for their homes, the MOHs would keep tabs on them and Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) would visit them to check on their health status until the incubation period passes. Even on any other ship, if at any point, someone is ill, he/she would be isolated in his/her cabin.

Many passenger ships have one or two of their own doctors on board. At all Sri Lankan ports too there are doctors on duty 24/7. Currently, five doctors are available at the Colombo Port, three doctors at the Galle Port, one doctor at the Hambantota Port and one doctor at the Trincomalee Harbour. The number of doctors on duty varies according to their shifts, he said.

He added that so far, no one suspected to be infected by the new coronavirus has been detected at the ports.

There is an isolation cabin at the passenger terminal of the Colombo Port to isolate any ill passengers until they are transported to the relevant hospital. All ships are inspected, said General (Rtd) Ratnayake, adding that the SLPA is coordinating with the Health Ministry’s quarantine authorities. No shore passes would be provided if a person’s health status is in doubt.

The Sunday Times learns that on February 24 – ‘Marco Polo’ with 850 passengers and 356 crew members came to the Colombo Port and on February 25 – ‘Costa Victoria’ with 2,200 passengers and 800 crew members and ‘Oceania Nautica’ with 824 passengers and 386 crew members.

While the ‘Marco Polo’ arrived from the Maldives, the ‘Costa Victoria’ sails between India, Maldives and Sri Lanka and the ‘Oceania Nautica’ from the Maldives having previously journeyed to South Africa, Namibia and Seychelles.

Assurances that the port health authorities are “proactive” also came from the Chairman of the Ceylon Association of Shipping Agents (CASA), Iqram Cuttilan, who explained that usually one of the biggest concerns would be port-entry points. While at airports you can have better control, ports are a much larger area with many ships coming in.

Last year, 4,198 vessels docked at the Colombo Port; 314 at Hambantota; 142 at Trincomalee; 43 at Galle; and 11 at Kankesanthurai. On average, about 60 cruise ships call on Sri Lanka per year.

The ships bring passengers, crew, cargo and other personnel such as security officers who then have access to the country after immigration clearance.

Explaining the ‘before’ and ‘now’, Mr. Cuttilan said that earlier, every vessel had to give one health declaration form with details of all those on board, at least 12 hours in advance of entering the port, signed by the master, submitted to the agent who would forward it to the health authorities. It was only after that, that the pilot of the Ports’ Authority set off in a launch to the vessel and guided it into the port.

“Now, however, every person on a ship has to fill up the health declaration form which would include details of any illness and the origin of travel and the ports of call in the previous two weeks, in view of the new coronavirus,” he says.

Thereafter, the port health officer will assess whether the vessel should come into the port or not and it is only then that the pilot would head for the vessel. When the ship docks, the first person who boards it will be the health officer, he said.

Asked whether there are adequate health officers, he said “yes” as vessels do not come together but about one in three to four hours.

After all these formalities are carried out, the vessel would be cleared for cargo operations and for the crew and passengers to embark/disembark.

The procedures are in place, said Mr. Cuttilan, adding that as soon as the port health office gives any instructions to CASA, its secretariat immediately disseminates them to all the agents.

All three terminals of the Colombo Port receive cargo and container ships. Usually crew members do not disembark at all times and those who disembark would vary according to their shift, said SLPA’s Communication Manager, Nalin Aponso, repeating the procedure for cruise liners.