Firstly, we all hope that you are safe and well in these difficult times.
As a result of the continuing Covid-19 outbreak, travel restrictions across the globe remain in place. Staying in one place, whether at home or onboard a vessel, is definitely the best option right now.
In order to protect your safety and wellbeing, crew changes continue to be postponed. Your onshore crewing teams have been dealing with a small number of emergency crew changes. However, we have 764 vessels where the entire crew are V.Ships seafarers, which have been protected by having no crew changes during the last two weeks.
Given the global measures introduced as a result of the outbreak, the majority of our V.Ships crewing teams are now working remotely and have adapted their daily work to ensure there is no impact to the service they provide you.
Planning is now underway to ensure that when the crisis eases, seafarers’ travel will be a priority. To support this, we are in the process of purchasing Covid-19 testing kits to be used by seafarers when travelling to vessels with the aim of minimising the risk of infection to you and your colleagues.
Finally, we would like to thank you all for the tremendous work that you are doing to keep global shipping moving.
With this in mind, I include a photograph of the crew of the m/v Championship that captures the spirit of our seafarers and has already been shared on social media.
It would be great if all our seafarers could send a similar picture so we can share on social media, and show the world how important seafarers are in helping to keep the global economy moving.
Many thanks to you all and stay safe.
Allan Falkenberg
Group Managing Director
Crew Management - V.Group
Pictures taken from the Crew of MV Championship
While a significant number of industries have been severely impacted by this outbreak, it is fair to say the shipping industry has been hit hard at a time when the world needs it most. 92% of the world’s goods are transported by ships, particularly the essentials needed in these challenging times, such as food, fuel and medicine. Core to our ability to support the global community is our seafarers, who play such a significant part in securing the supply chain, often at a great personal sacrifice. Largely unseen and often forgotten, they are the true heroes of our great industry.
On behalf of V.Group, we would like to say thank you to all of our seafarers for continuing to work hard and adapting efficiently as we navigate the new normal.
