India’s huge wave of Covid-19 infections has hit the international shipping industry, which relies on the country for seafarers, as crews come down with the disease and ports deny entry to vessels. Ports including Singapore and Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates have barred ships from changing crew members who have recently traveled from India, notices from maritime authorities show. Zhoushan in China has banned the entry of ships or crew that have visited India or Bangladesh in the past three months, according to Wilhelmsen Ship Management, a crew provider.

Industry executives also said that crews coming from India were testing positive for Covid-19 on ships, despite quarantining and testing negative before boarding. “Earlier we had ships that were infected with one or two people,” said Rajesh Unni, chief executive of Singapore-based Synergy Marine Group, which provides ship crew. “Today, we have a scenario where whole ships are being infected very quickly . . . which means the ships themselves are immobilised.’

India on Thursday reported more than 410,000 Covid-19 infections and alm( 4,000 deaths over the previous day. A surge in cases has broken global record( and overwhelmed health systems.

South Africa’s port authority said a vess( that arrived in Durban from India this Theweek was quarantined after 14 Filipino Rachman crew tested positive for Covid-19. The ship’s chief engineer died of a heart attack

Along with the Philippines and China,  About 240,000 of an estimated 1.6m seafarers globally are frc the country, according to the International Chamber of Shipping, an industry body Singapore, a big shipping hub, has widened its ban to cover crew from countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Executives warned the restrictions could send shockwaves through the stretched shipping industry, which transports 80 per cent of global trade, according to UN data.