India’s Covid surge rocks global shipping industry

India’s huge wave of Covid-19 infections has hit the international shipping industry, which relies on the country for seafarers, as crews come down with the disease and ports deny entry to vessels. Ports including Singapore and Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates have barred ships from changing crew members who have recently travelled from India, notices from maritime authorities show. Zhoushan in China has banned the entry of ships or crew that have visited India or Bangladesh in the past three months, according to Wilhelmsen Ship Management, a crew provider.

Ports including Singapore and Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates have barred ships from changing crew members who have recently travelled from India, notices from maritime authorities show. Zhoushan in China has banned the entry of ships or crew that have visited India or Bangladesh in the past three months, according to Wilhelmsen Ship Management, a crew provider.

"Earlier we had ships that were infected with one or two people,” said Rajesh Unni, chief executive of Singapore-based Synergy Marine Group, which provides ship crew. “Today, we have a scenario where whole ships are being infected very quickly . . . which means the ships themselves are immobilised.”