What will a Digital Health Pass mean for Seafarers?

During the pandemic, we have seen a crew change crises. Seafarers have not been able to travel between the ships that constitute their workplace and their country of residence due to travel restrictions.

High-level meetings have been taking place, aiming to get seafarers designated as “key-workers”, which would lead to exemption from specific COVID-related travel restrictions and make it possible for the 200,000 stranded seafarers to become repatriated.

Here is a link to IMOs Q and As about the crew change crises.

Currently, the next step towards normality is vaccination. The key-workers status would move seafarers up the line in the queue.

The next step is how to prove vaccination and clearance for Covid-19 through a negative test. One suggestion is a Digital Health Pass, and that is what this episode is addressing.

Meet Anthony Day, working at IBM in Dublin, who focuses on digital health pass and how complicated it can be to get national health authorities to agree on a global standard. Anthony describes how a digital health pass would make the certification easy to show on a mobile device when travelling or entering a sports arena. He explains blockchain technology and gives us insights into the various considerations that have to be considered.

Anthony has his own podcast called Blockchain won’t save the world if you are interested in the tech behind the digital health pass, blockchain.

Thank you for listening!