New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has ordered cruise ships currently positioned off the NSW coast to depart state territorial waters and return overseas to their ports of origin – but his call has struck a snag.
“I’ve been sending clear messages that it’s time to go back to your port of origin,” Fuller told the cruise lines yesterday.
“NSW is not a safe haven for every cruise ship,” he declared.
“They don’t pay taxes in Australia, they don’t park their boats in Australia; their primary flags are often in the Caribbean in different islands. It’s time to go home.”
10Daily.com.au quoted Fuller saying authorities had been supplying the ships with food and fuel and letting people aboard be conveyed to hospitals ashore if they needed medical care.
“We will continue to show humanitarian care to those individuals who need it; we’ll continue to allow them to have fuel and food, but it’s time to go to your port of origin.”
What happens to the crew was not spelled out, however, and that presents a hitch. Carnival Australia president Sture Myrmell said the repatriation of crew should take priority.
Myrmell confirmed that Carnival Australia was participating in high-level federal and state discussions “with the aim of enabling the repatriation of crew currently on board Ruby Princess on compassionate and humanitarian grounds”.
About 1100 crew are on the ship, according to reports this morning.
“Being able to send home those crew members who are not required for the safe operation of the ship is the right thing to do both from a humanitarian point of view and Australia’s international standing as a maritime nation that looks after foreign nationals in its care,” Myrmell said.
“We are particularly concerned that a humanitarian approach should be taken in relation to the crew on Ruby Princess, which has left NSW territorial waters as demanded by the NSW Government.
“However, we remain concerned that it is not safe for the ship to sail away from Australia while there are crew members on board who are ill. While illness on board has been reduced due to strong health management, the ship needs to remain within reach of Australia to access healthcare services if an urgent need arises.
“Australia has maritime obligations to protect the welfare of seafarers and as such we need to care for foreign nationals as we would expect other nations to care for Australians in similar circumstances abroad.
“Repatriation of Ruby Princess’s crew would be an important step in upholding Australia’s reputation as a caring maritime nation.”
The NSW Government faced fierce criticism last week for its “catastrophic” decision to let passengers from the Ruby Princess disembark in Sydney on 19 March 2020 without being ordered into isolation.
More than 400 confirmed cases of COVID-19 coronavirus across Australia – about 10% of Australia’s total – derive from the Ruby Princess, according to state health departments. The first person in the ACT to die from COVID-19 was a passenger on the Ruby Princess, authorities have confirmed.
As of yesterday, there were 211 cases of COVID-19 coronavirus in NSW from the Ruby Princess, according to NSW Health. In an update on the virus, NSW Health added there were also “79 cases from the Ovation of the Seas, which docked 18 March and 30 cases from the Voyager of the Seas which docked on 18 March. There are two new cases in NSW, from the Celebrity Solstice, making it four total cases in NSW.”
NSW has more COVID-19 cases, by far, than any other Australian state or territory.
Above: Cruise ship off NSW coast
AROUND THE WORLD, meanwhile, many ships remain stranded at sea as governments refuse to let them dock, fearing the scourge of COVID-19 coronavirus.
The ABC reported yesterday on the predicament of some 100 Australian passengers on the expedition ship Greg Mortimer, which it said had not been allowed to dock by local authorities after a trip to Antarctica.
Greg Mortimer is currently anchored off Montevideo, Uruguay, the ABC said. For the ABC story on that, see:
In another case, president of Holland America Line, Orlando Ashford, has called for a port to show “compassion and grace” by allowing passengers on the Zaandam cruise liner and its sister ship, the Rotterdam, to land.
Four people have died, eight people have tested positive for COVID-19 and about 200 people are ill with flu-like symptoms on the Zaandam, the Guardian has reported. More about that here:
Edited by Peter Needham
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