the goan I network
VASCO
Panic gripped several port users of Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) for the third time in as many days, after a ship arrived into the port from Qatar, which has recorded a number of Coronavirus cases.
While there was panic on Thursday over the proposed quarantine unit at Harbour after a false report in an English daily had claimed that many of 150 infected passengers were to be quarantined on their arrival from Iran and further concern on Friday over the docking of a Chinese ship at Berth 11, the arrival of a ship from Qatar caused further panic on Saturday.
Such was the concern that many of the workers from the port and other agencies affiliated to the port refused to board the vessel over fears of being infected by Coronavirus especially since the vessel had directly arrived from Qatar.
According to the MPT website, the ship “MV CS Fortune” is presently docked at Mooring Dolphin area in the Anchorage of the port and is in the MPT for pig iron cargo.
Workers from the port and other agencies claimed that every ship once arrives in the port has to have local boarding officers, while several workers board the ship on behalf of various agencies like stevedores and steamer agents, serving as boarding clerks, talk clerks, signalmen and crane operator.
