Global travel has been profoundly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with many countries having closed their borders and implementing strict bio-security restrictions. Whilst the global maritime industry has experienced a degree of contraction throughout the pandemic, commercial shipping has fared better than many industries. However, the non-commercial sector, including cruising yachts and long range sailing yachts, has been drastically affected with many cruisers stuck in ports for months or yacht movement being severely restricted due to blank sailings.
In addition to country level restrictions, with many states having closed their maritime borders and larger ports to non-commercial vessels, marinas across the world have been either locked-down or are only allowing vessels to enter in the event of an emergency. However, with people showing greater appetite to travel now than in the earlier months of the pandemic, yacht charters offer a holiday and form of travel that is free from many of the complications that land travellers face currently and can provide greater bio-security protection than a villa, for example. A privately chartered yacht allows for safeguarded environments, where the flow of people coming and going can be easily controlled, and the need to frequent public areas can be minimised if supplies are delivered to a quayside and then collected by crew. With effective and frequent testing of captain, crew, and guests aboard, modern yachts can essentially become COVID-19 free zones.
As some countries begin to loosen their border restrictions, in part to capitalise on what remains of the summer tourist season, they have implemented a host of bio-security measures, such as only allowing 1 port for entry – for example, in Antigua & Barbuda, vessels can only enter via the Nevis Street Pier. Other measures include periods of quarantine for newly arrived vessels. In Panama, for example, yachts arriving into Colon or Panama City must undertake a 14-day quarantine. While in other countries, such as Malta, arriving yachts do not have to observe a 14-day quarantine, but they are required to fill out a passenger locator form in the event that authorities need to trace those aboard quickly.
At Dryad Global, we believe that yacht operators and charterers should be aware that, until there is an available vaccine for COVID-19, any of these guidelines or restrictions could change at any time dependent on the spread of the virus in each country. The recent re-imposition of lock-down measures in countries such as Australia and Hong Kong are good examples of this and require thorough yacht route planning.
Accordingly, any decision to charter or operate a yacht during COVID-19 is a complicated process. Dryad Global’s Yacht Management support, 'Pegasus Serve' can assist you and your clients with this process. It provides a comprehensive summary of COVID-19 bio-security measures for a wide range of countries across the world. To our current clients, we provide detailed information on countries in the Caribbean, South America, South East Asia, and the Mediterranean. However, we can tailor the content exactly to the areas you are interested in. Find out about our bespoke options or download a sample by clicking on the button below.
In addition to COVID-19 restrictions, 'Pegasus Serve' provides detailed regional overviews (including Caribbean to Mediterranean sailing routes, Indian ocean charters) of maritime security risks and for specific countries, including the most recent events and longer-term trends based on granular analysis of our industry leading data set of global maritime security incidents. Alongside maritime threat analysis, we provide detailed analysis of risks ashore and security recommendations that will afford you and your clients peace of mind, even when operating in higher risk areas.
Download Dryad Global's latest Yacht Management Support report below: