Some countries reintroduced COVID-19 restrictions and test requirements for crew members in the wake of the rising number of infections in China. The rules largely target seafarers arriving from certain Asian countries, as the situation in China remains a concern. According to the Global Maritime Forum (GMF), the Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator for Q4 2022 shows, " 2.7% of seafarers are still stuck onboard vessels beyond contract expiration, a 0.6 percentage point drop compared to the third quarter." The number is, however, the lowest since the indicator was introduced in May 2021, adds GMF. “The numbers trend in the right direction, but the figures still represent thousands of seafarers, who can’t get to work or journey home, as they were supposed to," said Susanne Justesen, Ph.D., Project Director Human Sustainability, Global Maritime Forum. "The fundamental issues of seafarers not being treated as key workers also hasn’t changed, which will be a global problem if the pandemic resurges or when we face a similar problem in the future." While the ease of COVID-19 rules in China is, on the one hand, good news for ship managers, there are still concerns in that direction. "Local and central governments in China are not yet aligned, and crew changes in China are thus very reliant on local agents to ensure compliance with regulation," says GMF.