Middle East coronavirus regulations impacting offshore vessel operations

Offshore staff

BANGKOK, Thailand – Mermaid Maritime is monitoring how developments in the Middle East could impact its offshore construction business.

A major challenge caused by COVID-19 in the region is government-imposed movement restrictions on its crews.

In the Middle East, this means crews would either be prohibited from entering or leaving their country of operations, in which case Mermaid’s vessels would have to spend at least 14 days in quarantine upon entering any country of operation before being allowed to start work.

The company has been working with regional authorities and its clients on a solution in such situations: to date there has been limited disruption to its projects and operations. 

These developments coincide with a time when the company’s DP-2 dive support vessels Mermaid Endurer and Mermaid Asiana are undergoing their five-yearly special periodic surveys.

Both vessels must depart from their country of operations to the shipyard, complete their maintenance programs, then return to where they were operating.

Movements of the vessels have been impacted by the government-imposed lockdown and quarantine measures in those relevant jurisdictions.

A subsidiary of Mermaid has already invoked a force majeure claim on one customer contract due to late return of one of the vessels caused by the government-imposed restrictions. It continues to provide a chartered-in replacement vessel to the customer during this period in order to fulfil its contractual obligations.

04/27/2020