Maritime border rules and Level 1 guidance for transport operators

New laws and guidance have recently been provided as the situation with Covid changes within and outside New Zealand.  The Ministry of Health have provided guidance focusing on New Zealand’s border and the Covid-19 Public Health Response (Maritime Border) Order 2020, whilst the Ministry of Transport has provided advice for transport operators.

It should come as no surprise that the rules relating to the external borders have the force of law behind them rather than the Ministry of Transport’s guidance which deals with transport within the country and which is just guidance and suggested best practice.

Maritime Border Order

The Order restates the existing rules, extending the ban on foreign vessels and cruise ships with limited exemptions, including for cargo ships, fishing vessels, vessels in distress and warships.

For crew of cargo and other ships which are required to disembark to undertake necessary work such as unloading, a 14-day isolation must have been undertaken, starting when the vessel arrived in New Zealand. However following this period of isolation, the crew member must still remain as close to the ship as possible, must maintain the greatest possible distance to others not from the ship or if needed wear PPE and must follow the directions of an enforcement officer.

For New Zealand citizens or those with visas and entry permission, which presumably means permanent residents and those with a special exemption granted can either quarantine before, or on arrival in New Zealand.

Those on board a vessel which has been at sea for at least 29 consecutive days, who have not had contact with any other individuals except those on board and where a medical or health official is reasonably satisfied that no person on board is displaying symptoms of Covid-19 are entitled to disembark.  If the vessel has been at sea for less than 29 consecutive days, then the individual would need to quarantine for the time difference between the period at sea and 28 days.  The order includes the following example:

If a person …. arrives in New Zealand from a point outside New Zealand on a ship that has been at sea for 25 consecutive days beginning at 9 am on the first day, the person would be subject to clause 12 for 3 more days ending immediately before 9 am on the last day (25 + 3 = 28).

However, there is also the option for quarantining for 14 days on arrival by sea to New Zealand, in the same way as described above for cargo and other crew.

It is interesting however that quarantining on a ship outside of New Zealand is viewed differently to quarantining on a ship inside New Zealand, possibly due to the ability to verify, manage and test those outside of New Zealand. It is also interesting that after 14 days quarantine in New Zealand, whilst a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident may be reasonably considered clear of Covid, other nationalities must distance or wear PPE.

The Order also sets out the permitted movements of New Zealand vessels to avoid the need to quarantine on their return to New Zealand, allowing support vessels and fishing vessels to leave New Zealand as long as they do not disembark or embark other individuals or interact with people from other ships.

Ministry of Transport Guidance

Following the move to Alert Level 1 at midnight on 8 June 2020, all restrictions on domestic travel were removed.  Transport operators are urged to follow the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Transport. The guidelines are straightforward and split across 5 sections; health and safety, physical distancing, contract tracing, cleaning and customer compliance.

The sections dealing with health and safety and cleaning link to more generic WorkSafe and Ministry of Health Advice and the physical distancing section briefly reminds operators that there is no physical distancing requirement but that people who are unwell should be discouraged from travelling.

The bulk of the guidance relates to contract tracing and how transport operators can support contract tracing.  Whilst the responsibility for keeping records now lies with the individual rather than the transport operator, a change from the higher alert levels, in order to assist the individual, businesses are requested to facilitate and  promote their customers use of use the NZ COVID Tracer QR codes, public electronic ticketing cards registered with the individuals details (such as AT HOP, Snapper, Metrocard or Bee Card).  If a transport business does collect contact details as part of its usual process, then it is requested that those details are held for at least 31 days.

In the event a customer is found to have Covid, then the Ministry’s advice is to contact and assist health officials, for example by reviewing CCTV to confirm whether there were any close contacts.

Finally, the guidance restates that the transport operator is not expected to enforce compliance by customers but may refuse to allow passengers to board on the basis of health and safety.

From the document, apart from what can be considered as relatively obvious, we recommend that you review your company policies and ensure they state the basis on which you can exclude passengers in order to minimise the risk of claims from passengers who have been refused entry.

For further information, contact Peter Dawson by email peter@maritimelaw.co.nz, or by phone +64 27 229 9624.