In the afternoon on April 20, the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council held a press conference to introduce the latest progress of prevention and control of Covid-19 import according to law. Liu Haitao, director of Border Defense and Inspection Management Division under the National Immigration Administration, said in response to a reporter’s question that at present, more than 20,000 employees entering into China through means of transportation were inspected by Border Defense and Inspection Organs every day, accounting for more than 70% of the total number of persons entering into China. For ships engaged in international voyages, foreign crew members onboard them would not be allowed to land in principle.

On April 1, the MOT issued a Notice, saying that for the purpose of deepening the implementation and fulfillment of decisions and deployments from the CPC Central Committee and the State Council in respect of prevention and control of COVID-19 as well as strictly preventing import of COVID-19 through waterway ports, vessels engaged in international voyages shall be strictly prohibited from carrying any person other than crew members to enter into Chinese ports during the period for prevention and control of COVID-19. Any cargo vessel engaged in international voyages that intends to enter a Chinese port shall, after departing from her last foreign port, immediately submit the “Statement of Not Carrying Onboard Any Person Other Than Crew Members” signed by the captain to the local maritime safety administration of the place of the Chinese port, and shall confirm such statement when handling port entry formalities.

JOINT OPEN LETTER TO UNITED NATIONS AGENCIES FROM THE GLOBAL MARITIME TRANSPORT INDUSTRY

Yangshan deep-water port is one of the ports with the largest container throughput in China. The journalist learned from the maritime administration department that with the acceleration of the resumption of production, international haul lines container ship flow in Yangshan deep-water port has increased significantly in the past week and has resumed to normal level.