To All V.Ships Seafarers and their Families - 30th April 2020

First of all, regardless of where you are right now, I hope that you are all well and continue to remain safe.

We continue to monitor the Covid-19 pandemic situation and we see that travel is still difficult. In some parts of the world, we are starting to see some relaxation of lockdown restrictions and this is good news. Our internal travel department, GMT, are in constant contact with the world’s major airlines and we are exploring all options to restart seafarer travel when safe to do so.

When we are carrying out detailed reviews of our potential travel options to and from vessels, our number one priority remains the health and safety of you and your families.

On 30 April, we updated our Covid-19 Circular Letter that refers to crew changes. Starting on 1 May, we will continue to undertake crew changes for emergency purposes. In addition, we will consider crew reliefs for those of you that are undertaking extended contracts, if the precautions meet our minimum requirements following a robust risk assessment.

To ensure your continued health and safety, this will mean that we will be able to undertake limited crew changes on some vessels and, if we determine that travel places you at risk, crew changes on other vessels will be delayed. We realise that this will be positive for some of you and endure continued frustration for others.

To underline the extra efforts the team are undertaking during these troubled times, I wanted to share with you a story from earlier this week. On Monday, we successfully arranged the transfer of 5 seafarers from Russia to Holland by chartered plane to carry out a crew change to the great satisfaction of the joining and relieved seafarers. We are constantly working on similar opportunities and will keep you updated on any new developments.

As I advised previously, we are testing all joining seafarers for Covid-19 whenever possible. This is an additional safeguard to those onboard a vessel when a new seafarer joins.

Finally, on behalf of all at V.Group, I would like to thank you again for all your hard work, dedication and patience at these difficult times.


Many thanks to you all and stay safe.

Allan Falkenberg
Chief Executive Officer
Crew Management, V.Group

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