9 January 2023 (Lloyd's List) - CHINA has stopped imposing its ad hoc approval system on crew changes for international trading vessels. The move is part of a broader policy U-turn that will see the country co-exist with the coronavirus and underlines a further easing of the restrictions on such shipping operations at the country’s ports, including the sign-in and sign-off of foreign seafarers. The new rules, among other changes, were issued over the weekend. The crew change practice is subject to the usual exit-and-entry inspections, the transport ministry said. Crew entering China for a rotation are no longer required to conduct nuclear acid tests and serve mandatory quarantine upon arrival. That is in line with Beijing’s broader border control policy for overseas visitors. Seafarers will still be required to provide a nuclear acid test 48 hours before their ships leave the last foreign port. This test, though, can be replaced by a rapid antigen test in certain circumstances. The transport ministry has asked local authorities to act in accordance with the central government’s instruction. “From the regulation, it seems no problem on foreign crew changes in Chinese ports. But we also don’t know yet how fast the ports and terminals would follow the change,” said an official from a Shenzhen-based crew management company. “Things will be clearer in the next few days.” Local port authorities and governments have a track record of defying transport ministry orders to ease crew change restrictions in order to prioritise their own needs to contain the infection. An executive from one Hong Kong-based shipping company said foreign seafarers were prohibited from going into China in most cases even if they had the visa, while the new rules seem to have lifted the ban at least on paper. China has been gradually relaxing the pandemic-related controls on the entry of ships and crew after Beijing changed its zero-Covid stance. Last month, the transport ministry removed the requirements for vessels calling at Chinese ports to provide the digital health code and 48-hour virus test results of the crew on board before arrivals, aiming to streamline the process.