International Cruise Rescue Dilemma Difficult To Resolve The Market Shock Or Until Next Year

Newspaper reporter Gao Jianghong

Intern Li Junjie Xie Xie Yi reports from Beijing.

After the Diamond Princess Cruise stopped at Yokohama port in Japan, the Japanese government asked the whole crew to be isolated from the ship and prohibited from disembarking. The diamond princess, whose final isolation for 14 days, was infected by up to 621 people.

Under the virus panic, the other cruise ship, "Weishi Dan", which was launched in February 1st in Hongkong, China, was repeatedly refused to land by several countries and drifted for nearly two weeks at sea until the cruise ship finally stopped at Sihanouk's port in Kampuchea in February 13th.

The tragedy is that as soon as tourists left the cruise ship, a US passenger aboard the ship was infected with a new coronavirus pneumonia in Malaysia on the way home.

The encounter of two cruise ships raised public concerns about international rescue procedures after a public safety accident involving a cruise ship. "Facing the contagious epidemic of the new crown virus, this is not a country's ability to bear or solve with its own strength, nor is it a professional international organization." Peng Xianwei, partner and lawyer of Beijing office, believes that through the introduction of funds or insurance industry, the pressure of cruise owners and coastal governments can be alleviated, so that countries will be more motivated to accept cruise ships in the epidemic and avoid large-scale humanitarian disasters by cruise ships. "In the long run, this may be the best way to solve this problem."

Because there are a large number of international passengers on two cruise ships, the spread of the epidemic on cruise ships has been a great shock to tourists after being disseminated by the global media. Beijing International Studies University professor Zhang Lingyun, executive editor in chief of the tourism journal, believes that the epidemic will give the cruise industry a full impact. It is expected that the market will fall to the bottom this year. "The Chinese Cruise Market and the Asian cruise market may take 1-2 years to reach the pre epidemic situation." Cheng Juehao, Secretary General of the Asian cruise Academy of Shanghai Maritime Univeristy and member of the China Cruise development expert committee, also think so.

Cruise rescue problem

Since the "Diamond Princess" cruise ship has been constantly finding out the new crown virus infection, many of the cruise ships that have yet to rely on port in East Asia have also experienced ups and downs and have been roaming the sea.

WHO (WHO) director general Tan Tak said in February 12th that three cruise ships were either delayed in clearance or refused to enter the port. One of them was the "weisit Dan" cruise ship with 2257 passengers. It was unable to land on many occasions because it was unable to land on the sea for nearly two weeks.

The encounter between the "Diamond Princess" and the "weistadan" cruise has caused much controversy internationally.

The Japanese government requests that all members of the "Diamond Princess" cruise ship be isolated on board. Many people believe that it is an opportunity to increase cross infection, leading to the fact that those who are not infected are also infected with the disease. The isolated crew and passengers have been crying out for those who are allowed to be healthy. Some media pointed out that although the construction of "Diamond Princess" is in Japan, it operates in Japan as its mother port, but actually the registry country is actually the United Kingdom, and the shipping operator belongs to the carnival group in the United States. The "weishit Dan" is linked to the Holland flag and operates on the Dutch cruise company, which is also a cruise company under the carnival group of the United States.

In accordance with the relevant provisions of the international law, the state authorities of ships on the high seas take measures to prevent the expansion of jurisdiction and obligations. However, the United Kingdom and the United States had long been absent from the "Diamond Princess" when they were in trouble, and there was no strong support.

But ships with serious environmental pollution threats are hot potatoes for any coastal country and are often prohibited by coastal states. Besides, large cruise ships carry as many as two thousand or three thousand passengers. Such a huge potential infection population is overwhelming disaster for any country's medical assistance resources. Japanese media also pointed out that there were only 1800 beds for infectious diseases in the country, while the number of passengers on the diamond princess was as high as 3711. In accordance with many provisions of international law, Japan could have refused to dock with the "Diamond Princess" cruise and did not offer any obligation to provide assistance to it. It is not difficult to understand that the "weisit Dan" cruise ship has been refused many times.

In response to the coastal state's ban on ships entering the port that might threaten their environment and prevent this beggar thy neighbour situation, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) set up a Maritime Safety Committee Working Group in 2000. In 2003, it passed two resolutions on the refuge area of distress ships, namely, the guidelines on the need for assistance in the evacuation of ships (resolution A.949 (23)] and the The resolution on maritime rescue services [resolution A.950 (23)] provides guidance for coastal countries to establish a ship refuge system. But Peng Xianwei pointed out to reporters that IMO's "guide" is only an international soft law and does not have a mandatory binding force. The asylum of ships entering coastal states still depends on the voluntary restrictions imposed by coastal states on their sovereignty. Due to complex political and environmental considerations, coastal countries almost tend not to accept damaged ships to enter asylum shelters in their own control.

Cheng Juehao believed that Japan and Kampuchea accepted the docked of two cruise ships on the basis of humanitarian principles. "Cruise assistance itself is an international issue. Cruise ships, operating companies, and port dependent countries may all be different." Cheng Juehao said that in the international maritime conventions, if the ship arrives at the port of call, the port of call is willing to accept the berthing, and the country to which the port of call is concerned must assume humanitarian responsibilities and provide assistance. Like Japan's acceptance of the "Diamond Princess" ship, Japan has to shoulder the responsibility of rescue. If all countries do not accept the docking of the diamond princess cruise ship, then the diamond princess cruise ship can only return to the country where the ship is located, namely the United Kingdom, to deal with the new coronavirus infection incident in Britain. Similarly, if the "Weishi Dan" has been rejected by Asian countries, the cruise can only be returned to Holland. However, it is not easy to say whether the road is so far away and whether we can get back to the sea area of the two countries.

Tan Desai said that WHO, together with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), will issue a communiqu to all countries in accordance with the international health regulations, urging all countries to respect the principle of Free Pratique and to provide proper care for all passengers.

Another question remains to be solved. Who will bear the high cost of salvage? Cheng Juehao said that the cost of aid will be borne by the Japanese government first. Ultimately, who will bear the responsibility will be the result of the consultation. If Japan feels that the cost is too high, it will not be able to negotiate with the Shipping Co, the host country and the nationality of the passengers. Zhang Lingyun believes that some of the costs can be solved by insurance companies, but he admits that the insurance coverage has failed to cover all losses to the bail countries, cruise companies and passengers.

Peng Xianwei thinks that the owner of the cruise ship should have insurance, but as to whether the insurer undertakes this part of the cost and loss, and the amount of the insured amount, we need to see the contract between the shipowner and the insurer. If the insurer of the shipowner does not underwrite or underwrite, in the long run, it may be necessary to consider establishing a relevant liability fund, or establishing a compulsory liability insurance system and increasing the amount of insurance. In this way, the introduction of funds or insurance industry can relieve the pressure of cruise owners and coastal governments, and promote more dynamic and economic resources of countries to accept cruise ships in the epidemic, so as to avoid large-scale humanitarian disasters caused by cruise ships. "In the long run, this may be the best way to solve this problem."

Cruise industry faces impact

In fact, viruses found on cruise ships are not uncommon, such as norovirus. But the virus in the past is not as great as the new coronavirus. "It can be said that this epidemic is the highest level of impact that the cruise industry has encountered." Zhang Lingyun regrets that the spread of the epidemic is fast and the complexity of the epidemic is beyond the imagination of the people. It also makes people more fearful of the infection of confined space, and the cruise ship, which has a large number of people and has a good airtight nature, has become the most worrying place for people. He feared the fear would take a long time to repair it.

It is reported that with the continuous development of the epidemic, the impact of the epidemic has spread to Asia as a whole. More and more Asian ports have imposed restrictions on cruise ships. The Royal Caribbean Cruise has to cancel its 18 cruise liner in Southeast Asia, and its annual performance is expected to be hit by the outbreak. Other cruise companies have also cancelled their Asian voyages.

"From the present point of view, the Asian market's voyages are being phased out." Cheng Juehao told reporters that from a quantitative point of view, the number of cruise ships in Asia in the past year will be around 2000, but 80%-90% may be cancelled by the epidemic. In 2018, the number of Asian cruise tourists was about 4000000, Cheng said, with a conservative estimate that this year the number of tourists will be reduced by at least one and a half.

Fortunately, there are few confirmed cases in countries outside Asia. Cheng Juehao said it is hard to say whether the impact of the epidemic will affect the cruise market in Europe and the United States. The most worrying thing at present is the Chinese cruise market. "The cruise market is not optimistic this year." Cheng Hao Hao road. Zhang Lingyun also told the twenty-first Century economic report that in the various industries affected by the epidemic, "the recovery of tourism industry is more difficult than that of manufacturing, retail and other industries, and the cruise industry is the most difficult one in the tourism industry."

In February 17th, the "Diamond Princess" cruise company issued a statement saying that taking into account the continuing impact of the epidemic and the need for prevention and control, we cancelled the operation of this year's operation in China. According to the international shipping network, more than five luxury ships in the Chinese port of Hong Kong have to be held on standby, with a direct loss of 700 million, plus a loss of 1 billion yuan in related industries.

Cheng Juehao also pointed out that the single cruise port in China's cruise market will be greatly affected. He gave reporters a simple example. The cruise terminal of Baoshan, Shanghai, invested more than 3 billion yuan, and received 200-500 voyages a year to make it run. "Now the voyage has dropped to even one digit, and even the loan has become a problem." Guangzhou's cruise port, which was completed just last year in Nansha, has an investment of up to about 1000000000 yuan.

"A huge loan will make it lose its breath, not to mention other expenses such as wages and salaries." Cheng Juehao said that the cruise industry's industrial chain is relatively long, and there are travel agencies and Exempt Company that specialize in ship travel. They will also be greatly affected by this shock wave operation.

Nowadays, all trades and professions are resuming production to save losses. But for the cruise industry, it is not easy to recover the losses. Zhang Lingyun pointed out that after the outbreak, the first thing we need is the normalization of social order. Secondly, in the recovery timetable, manufacturing, commercial retail, catering and other industries should be restored to the fastest speed before they can be transferred to tourism. But a long period of downtime and shutting down schools during the epidemic may have overdrawn the vacation time this year. Without holidays, tourism would be impossible. Cruise travel requires higher time length, and I am afraid it will be more difficult to recover. Besides cruise, tourism will be affected by fear besides time. After a large number of people infected with the Diamond Princess Cruise, tourists need a psychological treatment process. "But I believe the market will definitely recover." Zhang Lingyun road. Cheng Juehao believes that "the Chinese Cruise Market and the Asian cruise market may take 1-2 years to reach the state before the epidemic."

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