Six crew from Patricia Oldendorff ship in Port Hedland still positive for COVID-19

Eleven of the 17 COVID infected crew members from the bulk manganese carrier the Patricia Oldendorff have now recovered from their illness, but six still carry the virus. The ship has been anchored eight nautical miles off the North West coast since September 16, after 17 of the 21 crew tested positive to coronavirus. Seven of the nine crew left aboard the ship tested positive to the virus, while 10 of the 12 crew in quarantine at the Hedland Hotel also had the virus. WA Health has been hesitant to define a timeline for the crew to re-embark the ship and sail away, a statement released by the WA Country Health Service said the entire crew was expected to be cleared of COVID in the coming days and would re-join the vessel once they were. “The seafarers remain in good health and good spirits and have asked we pass on their sincere thanks for the compassion and care extended to them,” the statement said. The saga started after the ship’s crew was changed in the Philippines, with many WA Government ministers saying quarantine procedures there were to blame. WA Health Minister Roger Cook said he felt “let down” by the Philippines’ procedures to contain the spread of COVID in the maritime industries, saying he would work closely with State and Federal counterparts to “stop it at the source.” Mr Cook said questions had been raised about the quarantine process in the Philippines, where the crew boarded the ship, after it was revealed a two-tier system saw ship officers quarantine at home surrounded by family members, while seafarers were ordered to do hotel quarantine. In a statement released by Oldendorff Carriers, the company backed quarantine processes put in place. “There was a crew change aboard the vessel in the Philippines on September 5, 2020,” the statement said. “The crew change was done in compliance with the Department of Transportation in the Philippines, Protocol for Crew Change and Repatriation. All joining crewmembers were quarantined in the Philippines prior to joining the vessel. “Approximately 5 days before joining the vessel, all crewmembers were tested with the viral RNA-PCR test. All crew members tested negative for the virus before leaving the Philippines.” Despite the statement, WA Ports Minister Alannah MacTiernan labelled the Philippines’ process as “a very risky proposition”. “Since the calling of the pandemic we’ve had 4000 vessels visit Port Hedland and more than 100,000 seafarers manning those vessels,” she said. “This is the first incident we’ve had and we are very confident the systems we have in place have absolutely worked. One of the issues that have now been revealed to us is perhaps the quarantine provisions in other countries have systemic flaws in them. “The Philippines have a two-tiered quarantined system. After testing the officers were allowed to go back into home quarantine whilst the seafarers were in hotel quarantine. “This, I think, is a very risky proposition, and one we're working with the Federal Government to take up with the Philippine government. We're looking at whether we'll be demanding something higher than the official standard if crews are changed in the Philippines.”