ABC Capricornia: Jasmine Hines
)A new regional quarantine hotel in central Queensland is housing its first shipload of international seafarers.
Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) general manager Angus Mitchell said the hotel in Gladstone would be predominantly for arrivals by sea, but could be used for other people as required.
He said the first ship requiring quarantine arrived in the port city on Saturday.
"It's a log ship, so log ships need to be fumigated prior to them departing," Mr Mitchell said.
For workplace health and safety purposes, seafarers onboard must disembark for three days while the fumigation takes place.
Mr Mitchell said the quarantine hotel would not alter the state's "green lane" system of crew changeovers for seafarers.
ABC Capricornia: Jasmine Hines
)Green lane express
Under the green lane system, seafarers travel from Gladstone to Brisbane in a van with enough food, water and fuel for the 600 kilometre trip.
Jessica Mulhall, the manager of Gladstone's Mission to Seafarers, facilitates the transfers in the charity's vans.
"The bus will pick them up regardless of the time of day," she said.
The green lane system ensures there is no community interaction.
Once in Brisbane, the seafarers either head straight to an international flight or go into hotel quarantine.
ABC Capricornia: Jasmine Hines
)Angus Mitchell created the green lane system for ships after the pandemic began last year.
"That might be a 12 to 14 month contract out at sea and they need to get home," Mr Mitchell said.
Seafarers flying into Queensland spend four days in a quarantine hotel to get tested before being bussed directly to the Port of Gladstone.
ABC Capricornia: Jasmine Hines
)Logistics challenge
Mr Mitchell said a significant challenge had been organising the system across state and federal jurisdictions.
Mr Mitchell said Maritime Safety Queensland had processed about 17,500 boats in and out of Queensland ports since the beginning of the pandemic in January 2020.
"That's around 310,000 seafarers and we've managed to change over and repatriate home or onboard," he said.
Mr Mitchell said to date, only six boats have had coronavirus infections onboard and in those instances the seafarers were not able to dock.
When suspected cases of coronavirus on boats at sea arose, medical crews were flown in by helicopter or taken on smaller boats to test seafarers.
Call for wider adoption
Seafarers' freedom to get on and off their boats was seriously curtailed when the pandemic hit.
"They can get a haircut, buy some toiletries, make a phone call home and really just get their legs on land," Mr Mitchell said.
"That's a really big impost that we're putting on parts of our supply chain that are so critical, but are equally so vulnerable."
Mr Mitchell said the vaccine rollout would not be a quick solution for the shipping industry because many seafarers came from poorer countries with dense populations.
He said many international seafarers were working beyond their contracts and ships had been detained in Australian ports for slavery-like conditions.
Mr Mitchell said other nations should implement a similar framework.
"The challenges of international shipping can't be solved by one state," he said.
