**3. Harnessing the environment of maritime logistics sector in the fight against exposure to and spread of Covid-19: evidences from available literature**

The novel Covid-19 pandemic is seen to be currently ravaging all aspects of life in global communities; major economic institutions, organizations, industries and sectors. Global and local trend social, political and economic interaction was altered in favor of online and/or virtual interaction following the introduction of social distancing and ban on international and local interstate and regional travels in a build to break the curve of transmission and infection across built environments. In the economic sector for example, major anchors of business development and growth as has been negatively impacted following the lockdown policies of many countries which caused output losses occasioned by production time losses by many businesses. The global transport, logistics and supply chain inclusive of the maritime and shipping logistics sector seem to be worst hit by the pandemic following the lockdown order and ban on international flights and transportation as well as the mandatory closure of seaports by many economies to avert the possibility of infection by ships and shipping crew and airlines from major infected zones of the World. Following the inability of the global community so far to develop a vaccine for the cure, it has becomes imperative that the built environment, encompassing all aspects of the built environment including the environment of maritime transport and shipping must develop industry strategies, policies and regulations in line with the World Health organization (WHO) standard guidelines as preventive ways for managing and curtailing the spread of the Covid-19 disease. This is necessary to ensure that different regions of the global community does not run out of essential goods including drugs and medical equipment and food needed to sustain the fight against the pandemic and to ensure that factories involved in production of essential goods and services such as pharmaceutical companies employing imported raw materials does not shot down. The adverse effects in situation will be enormous. However, to ensure that the opening up of the seaports and the entire maritime sectors including the use of ships for operations, it must be ensured that the industry is regulated with regards to the implementation of developed Covid-19 preventive measures to guard against the infection and reinfection of settlements and society from maritime operations.

Many literatures have emerged in recent times on approaches to combating the spread of the disease in various settlement types including work places and the maritime industry. For example, the Occupational Safety and Health Academy [11], Oregon, developed a guide for protecting workplaces against Covid-19 infection. First OSHA [11] identified that the effect of Covid-19 infection in work environment such as maritime industry ranges from sickness, lockdown and exposure-fear induced absenteeism from work leading to output losses; change in patterns of commerce such as decline in consumer interest in certain goods and services as well as interrupted supply and delivery of shipments occasioned by lockdowns and cancelation of orders

*Harnessing the Environment of Maritime Transport and Port Logistics Sector… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101587*

made from highly infected geographical regions. According to OSHA [11], workplaces must determine and different jobs with high risks of employee exposure to Covid-19 and classify each job according to the degree of exposure it holds for employing doing it. Jobs and operations should be classified as have high, medium or low risks of exposure to Covid-19 while recommendations on approaches to staying safe in each job risk category is provided to workers in line with standard guidelines. The development of an infectious disease preparedness plan is also a necessity for workplaces. Such a plan according to OSHA [11] may address adequately the need for:


These among other measures will help to prevent transmission of Covid-19 from work places to residential settlements and vice versa by reducing the risk of exposure to Covid-19.

OSHA [11] developed a hierarchy of control types based on their effectiveness for implementation in organization in the control of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic (**Table 1**).

In another development, the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh [9] Department of shipping issued instructions to ports and ships on standard practices for managing and controlling the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the maritime and shipping sector in the country for the continued operation of ports and


*Source: Modified from OSHA [11].*

#### **Table 1.**

*Hierarchy of control types for institutional control of the spread of Covid-19.*

shipping companies. The guidelines require a ship calling to any port in Bangladesh to tender a Maritime Declaration of Health (MDH) at within 72 h before her arrival at the Port in line with the International Health regulations 2005 and FAL Conventions. The Master shall at the directive of the local Port port Health authorities provide specific information regarding health conditions such as temperature chart, crew and passenger list, current copy of ship sanitation certificate, last 10 ports call list, and list of all passengers and crew with temperatures above 37.5°C to Port Health office by email prior to the arrival of the vessel [9]. According the report, false of MDH's that does not reflect the factual conditions of health of crew and passengers onboard a ship cause the master and/or the ship agents to be prosecuted as per applicable laws. See **Tables 2** and **3** for sample of the content information in the MDH.

The report emphasized the responsibility of ship masters to educate crew and passengers of the symptoms of Covid-19, which include; (i) fever with temperature above 37.5°C/99.5°F, (ii) runny nose (iii) dry cough (iv) shortness of breath. He should also take responsibility to check the crew and passengers temperature daily, isolate confirmed cases and disinfect common areas, rooms and cabins in the ship before arrival in Ports of Bangladesh. Ports should quarantine for 14 days ships arriving from ports in infected regions following guidelines provided [9].

Passenger and crew health declaration adopt the format of listing the names and national of passengers and crew and their temperature conditions as shown below:

The GPRB [9] recommended further steps to be followed in cleaning and disinfecting ships and surfaces in the seaport to curtail the spread of the Covid-19 disease while assigning specific roles to Port Health organization, port authorities, ship owners, terminal operators, chandlers, immigration and security agencies operating ports in the duty of control and managing the spread of the disease in the Bangladesh maritime sector.

The Nigerian Center for disease Control [7, 8] provided general guidelines for mandatory institutional quarantining of returnees to Nigeria following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Though this guideline was not specific for maritime industry, it provided framework for the 14 days quarantining of ship crew members following change of crew in ports to ensure that both the old set of crew to disembark the ship for onward movement to their families in residential settlements and the replacing crew to embark the ship are all proved to be healthy and safe, and as such cannot transmit and infect the respective new locations in residential and work environments with the Covid-19 disease. NCDC [7, 8] notes that individuals will only interact with


*Source: Adapted from GPRB [9].*

#### **Table 2.**

*Sample Maritime Declaration of Health (MDH).*


#### **Table 3.**

*Sample crew/passenger declaration of health form.*

approved Covid-19 surveillance officers kitted in appropriate PPE routine monitoring duties intended to facilitate the early detection of ill health due to Covid-19 and break the curve of transmission and community infection.

Furthermore, the International Chamber of Shipping [12] took necessary steps to announce guidelines for ensuring safe shipboard interface between ship and shorebased personnel including shipyards. The hierarchy of control developed by the ICS [12] is summarized below:


ICS [12] also provided steps necessary to followed by onboard crew to ensure that internal transmission and infection does not occur between and among members of crew.

Dietz et al. [13] also examined the influence of the built environment in reducing the transmission of the Covid-19 pandemic. The study harped on the risk direct and indirect spreading the virus through the built environment including the School, markets, malls hospital, recreation centers, religious worship centers etc. outlining necessary action plan for routine disinfection of objects and control of person-toperson transmission of the disease in the built environment.

Finally, the International Maritime Organization harped on the need for a common framework and protocols for joining ship from ordinary residence in one country via aircraft to ship ship in a seaport in another country as well as a common protocol for leaving a ship and repatriation from a seaport in one country via aircraft to a seafarer's place of ordinary residence in another country. This was to address the challenges faced by ship-owners in changing crew following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Further provisions were issued to coastal states, shipping companies and agents, allied organization by the IMO [14] noting the importance of granting seafarers movement pass and access to travel facilities as provider essential services by national governments.

From foregoing, literature gaps were identified which among other things include the fact many organizations such as the WHO, NCDC, Departments of shipping, ICS, IMO, national governments, etc. have issued rules, recommendations, protocols and guideline for curtailing the spread of the Covid-19 disease in the maritime industry without identifying clearly a responsible organization in the maritime industry with responsible to monitor implementation of the guidelines. A holistic approach has not being followed in developing most of the preventive frameworks suggestive for the maritime industry, for example, the IMO [14] preventive framework centered more

on change of crew and the role of government and other organization without considering among other things the transmission and infection of ships by seaports and from interactions with residential settlements. The WHO [5] and NCDC [7, 8] prevention and 14 days quarantining measures were is for generality of all institutions and lacked the consideration of the peculiarity of the maritime industry, thus maritime industry specific measures need to be developed but in conformity with WHO and NCDC guidelines and recommendations. The routes and possible channels of transmission and infection of ships and residential settlements as it affects the maritime industry based in the interactive relationship among stakeholders in the maritime industry and residential settlements which holds potentials to transmit the virus and well possibility of infection need to be developed as basis for assessing the risk of exposure and transmission of the disease so that the various WHO, NCDC, IMO and other industry frameworks, protocols, rules and guidelines for preventive the spread of the Covid-19 disease can be effectively implemented along the routes/channels of transmission. It is the above identified literature and knowledge gaps that the chapter has tried bridge in the earlier sections.
