Seafarers leave their families behind to sail on the high seas, working on ships that bring us our essentials and the many other goods that we need every day. Maintaining a relatively low profile, seafarers spend the majority of their time in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight, missing their loved ones. With COVID-19, seafarers are even more anxious, since they do not know when or how they can return home due to the non-availability of international flights and various restrictions at ports.

J. M. Baxi & Co. is a premier shipping agency house in India with a 104-yearold legacy. Since the DG Shipping issued an order on 22nd April, 2020 to allow crew changes, J M BAXI set to work within 24 hours by carrying out the first ever crew sign-off for an Indian crew from the cruise ship Marella Discovery, which occurred at Mumbai on 23rd April, 2020. The company has been in the forefront ever since, effecting several crew changes at many Indian ports using its network of branch offices. We adhered to the guidelines and the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which entailed coordination with COVID-19 testing facilities, quarantine centres, the local police and district authorities, in addition to the usual port, customs and immigration organizations.

Our sincere thanks and heartfelt gratitude go to all these authorities for their kind support and cooperation in our endeavours.

J. M. Baxi & Co. has been the first agency to undertake a crew change since the lockdown in the country at ports of Mumbai, Goa, Sikka, Hazira, New Mangalore, Cochin anchorage, Kolkata, Haldia, Paradip, Cuddalore and Tuticorin anchorage. At Visakhapatnam, Gangavaram and Dhamra, we were actively involved in coordinating with the relevant authorities to formulate the SOP and pave the way for crew changes. So whether it was in the shelter of a port, in the choppy waters at Mumbai anchorage or in the rough weather and heavy rains at Cochin anchorage, our teams bravely, efficiently and safely executed the sign-on and signoff of the crews.

Impressed by our services and by our transparent and competitive charges, various shipowners, ship operators and ship management companies have tasked us with managing crew changes.

The safety of the crew is always of high priority. We provide them with the right Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including face masks, gloves, full body suits, goggles and sanitizers, and if the crew change occurs at anchorage, life jackets are also provided.

Our job is not over once the crew has disembarked, since the next challenge is to get them home, even when that is in a far-flung part of the country, like Kanyakumari in the South, West Bengal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in the East, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh in the North or Gujarat and Goa in the West. As domestic flights are suspended, the crew travels safely by road in specially sanitized buses and cars with drivers who have tested negative for COVID-19. We obtain all the permissions and paperwork necessary for crossing various districts and state checkpoints.

The smiles on the seafarers faces when they walk down the gangway, the relief they show as they wave goodbye from the window of the car or bus as it departs to their hometowns from the port and their overwhelming sentiments in the thank you messages they send us after reaching home safely makes us forget all the troubles we have overcome for them.

We shall continue to bring more smiles in our traditional and humane way, the JMB way ...