Crew Change

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) recognises the critical role that seafarers play in global seaborne trade, as well as the importance of crew change to safeguard the health and safety of seafarers sailing on board ships. With that in mind, MPA has been facilitating crew change under various circumstances.

With effect from 1 September 2020, MPA will consider the following circumstances in accordance to Port Marine Circular No. 36 of 2020 for crew change applications:
  1. crew whose employment contract has expired;
  2. additional crew on board whose sign-off would not affect the safe manning of the ship;
  3. change of crew due to the sale or purchase of ship;
  4. personnel who are not part of the ship’s crew such as superintendents and service engineers;
  5. compassionate grounds e.g. death of family member; or
  6. the crew is no longer medically fit to work onboard the ship.
If you wish to carry out crew change in the Port of Singapore and your request meets any of the above-mentioned circumstances and requirements in Port Marine Circular No. 36 of 2020, please submit a preliminary request via the following link:


Note that we will request for more information and documents at a later stage after we have assessed your preliminary request. You will have to make multiple submissions if you have more than 20 off-signers and/or on-signers.

Please find the relevant circulars, FAQs and other useful documents relevant to the crew change application below.

Relevant Port Marine Circulars (PMCs)

FAQs


Tele-medicine consultation for issuance of fit-to-travel certificate
Ship owners / managers / agents can now use tele-medicine (i.e. real-time video consultation) to obtain a fit-to-travel assessment and certification for crew signing off in Singapore. MPA will accept fit-to-travel certificates issued by Singapore Medical Council (SMC)-fully registered doctors meeting the requirements set out in the Tele-medicine Requirements (click here).

Useful Documents
Application Guide_v1.2 (excel document)