New Zealand's Covid-19 quarantine inequality: superyacht from Malta to isolate at Queens Wharf

4 Oct, 2020 5:00am

 5 minutes to read

The first superyacht to dock at a new quarantine berth on Auckland's Queens Wharf will arrive in the City of Sails today. Photo / File

By: Tom Dillane

Tom Dillane is a reporter at the New Zealand Herald

tom.dillane@nzme.co.nz @tomdillane1

The first superyacht to dock at a new quarantine berth on Auckland's Queens Wharf will today arrive in the City of Sails - and the crew on board will be granted an exclusive form of isolation.

The 81-metre AIR superyacht from Malta - which charters for NZ$1.6 million per week - set off from its last port in the capital of Tahiti, Papeete, on September 25.

A Ministry of Health border exemption means the crew's nine days at sea can count as part of their 14-day Covid-19 isolation.

Superyacht crew are among the few exempted foreign citizens able to enter the New Zealand border provided the boat they steer spends millions in refit and repair work in a Kiwi marine outfitter.

The wealthy owners of these water palaces are persisting in sending them down to Auckland. There is a waiting list of yachts floating off Tahiti trying to sail here.

A stainless and granite kitchen of a superyacht.

A hot tub sits on the deck of the luxury superyacht Solandge. Photo / Simon Dawson,Bloomberg via Getty Images

Queens Wharf Auckland where the new quarantine berth for superyachts will be. Photo / NZ Herald

Queens Wharf Auckland where the new quarantine berth for superyachts will be. Photo / NZ Herald

A customs spokesperson said part of Queens Wharf usually used for processing cruise ships was now a temporary Customs Controlled Area for "pleasure craft, such as superyachts" that will be "secured from the public".

"Any arriving international craft will undergo isolation requirements in accordance with the Maritime Border Order until they are cleared by health officials," the spokesperson said.

Ports of Auckland will oversee the logistical requirements of the berth such as lines and tugs.

The superyacht Ocean Victory docks at the Wynyard Quarter wharf in Auckland's Waitemata Harbour in 2015. Photo / File

On October 15, the 57-metre Senses superyacht will also be docking at Queens Wharf quarantine after sailing from Fiji.

Given that superyacht crew are among the very few international border arrivals who get to quarantine in a private setting rather than a Ministry of Health-overseen hotel, it seems reasonable to compare the quality of accommodations.

How does the AIR superyacht and Auckland's Jet Park Hotel stack up for quarantine conditions?

Food

Superyachts have a chef on board and it's not unheard of for requests such as fresh bagels from New York to be flown 2500km to St Baths to sate the owner's breakfast tastes. Obviously, there will be no equivalent food courier right now for crew, but kitchens typically stock a heavy seafood menu of sea bass, scallops, salmon, squid and an assortment of tropical fruit and fresh vegetables.

Australian stewardess aboard a 164ft Trinity yacht, Sarah Begbie, said a professional chef "cooked for both guests and crew, and food was of the highest standard. We once had a guest import organic Japanese Kobe beef for US$11,000 [$16,000] and bring Louis Roederer Cristal champagne".

Wagyu beef is not uncommon on the plates served on superyachts. Photo / Supplied

Dom Pérignon Champagne and a meal.

Reports of the food at the Jet Park Inn have also been very positive by quarantine guests. A day's food there consists of such menus as Weet-Bix for breakfast, pumpkin, kumara and feta salad, or bangers and mash, for lunch and lamb curry with basmati rice for dinner.

"All the food comes in fresh and hot. They always ask if we want a juice or soda with our meal," Christchurch Jet Park guest Monique Bensemann said.

Dinner of lamb curry and basmati rice is served at Jet Park Hotel in Auckland. Photo / Monique Bensemann

Jet Park Hotel in Auckland served pumpkin, kumara and feta for lunch. Photo / Monique Bensemann

Freedom

Sunlight is not a quarantine hotel room's strong suit.

The standard Jet Park hotel room is 30 square metres.

A negative Covid test is also required before you get a wristband that allows you to stroll the hotel's grounds alone.

The 14-day stay at the Jet Park quarantine facility in Mangere Auckland is highly regulated. Photo / Alex Burton

The AIR superyacht has enough deck space for its up to 24 crew to well and truly practise social distancing while sunbathing.

It spans 972sq m, and there's four levels of that!

You can also land a helicopter on it.

The Air superyacht arriving on October 4 into Auckland's new quarantine berth has a helipad. Photo / Dean Purcell

Typical lounge of a superyacht. Picture supplied from www.yachtforums.com

Amenities

AIR superyacht: Jacuzzi, observation deck, a large foldable swimming platform with bar, 102" pop-up television screen for outdoor movie viewing, jet skis, kayaks, gymnasium, massage room, steam room, and a yacht slide.

Jet Park: TV, walk in garden alone.

Looking aft from the bridge deck conversation area of a superyacht.

Superyacht master suite. Photo / Supplied

Human contact

The AIR superyacht which sailed from Tahiti has somewhere between 10 and 20 crew, who began their quarantine the moment they set off for New Zealand and can mingle and bunk together as they wish.

The most human contact you're going to get at the Jet Park Hotel is a PPE-draped nurse sticking a six-inch swab up your sinus.

The superyacht Big Fish in Auckland's Viaduct Harbour. Pictured is the spa pool. Photo / File

Vice

As if hotel isolation facilities weren't repressive enough, alcohol is not available at the Jet Park Hotel.

In contrast, that saying "drink like a sailor" must have some truth. The AIR has a bar, presumably well stocked via Tahiti.

You can also smoke a cigarette on deck, which at the Jet Park is difficult because most rooms don't have a balcony.

A superyacht's bar area. Photo / Supplied

Your future

This is one category where the Jet Park Inn has the upper hand.

Yes, the 14 days quarantine in your hotel room is highly regulated, with mandatory morning visits from a nurse and the Army manning the gates. But once you have delivered a day-14 negative test for Covid-19 you are free in your home country.

Covid-19 isolation facility at the Jet Park Hotel in Mangere, Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell

Superyacht crew that have docked in New Zealand, remain in a real state of limbo. Some crew have been stranded in New Zealand since before the March 25 lockdown - with the owners at a loss where to send their boat next.

But superyacht agent Duthie Lidgard says many are taking advantage of the paycheque and free time.

"The crew that are stuck here, they don't mind it. They're touring New Zealand because the boat's not leaving so they can take weekends off and do whatever," Lidgard said.

Auckland Council pushes for private quarantine

The tourism branch of Auckland Council wants a way for people to quarantine in a private setting, outside of managed hotel isolation.

Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) is forming working groups to plan private quarantine options, for when international citizens can visit New Zealand.

"ATEED is part of broader conversations around Managed Isolation Quarantine, and not specific to the America's Cup," ATEED chief executive Nick Hill said.

"The business community wants to collaborate with the public sector to find shared, smart and responsive solutions to living, working and doing business in a Covid-19 world that do not compromise our people's safety."

This private quarantine option would be suited to wealthy visitors who can pay for their own more convenient form of quarantine.https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12370022&ref=rss

 

How the Singapore Sports Hub came to house 2,000 migrant workers amid COVID-19 surge

Between April and mid-August, 2,000 migrant workers - those who had tested negative for COVID-19 - were moved to various premises inside the Singapore Sports Hub, including the National Stadium, as part of the government's strategy to decant the dormitories and reduce transmissions among its residents. (Photo: Singapore Sports Hub)

By Rachel Phua@RachelPhuaCNA

04 Oct 2020 06:01AM(Updated: 04 Oct 2020 06:10AM)

 
 
 
 

Bookmark

SINGAPORE: The National Stadium usually welcomes the biggest of names, from rock group U2 to Mandopop band Mayday as well as international sports stars. But as the COVID-19 pandemic raged on this year, concerts and sporting events were cancelled, and the stadium soon played host to a different group of visitors. 

In April, migrant workers began living at the National Stadium and other facilities around the Singapore Sports Hub - the OCBC Arena, the OCBC Aquatic Centre and the 100Plus Promenade (the track that circles around the National Stadium). The place was turned into a temporary migrant worker dormitory until the middle of August. Workers called the Sports Hub home for 138 days in total.

READ: IN FOCUS: The long, challenging journey to bring COVID-19 under control in migrant worker dormitories

Mitch Seeto, the senior director of venue and event operations at the Singapore Sports Hub, remembers getting phoned by government officials in early April, requesting to use the premises. Infections in the workers’ dormitories had ballooned since the end of March and the authorities were trying to reduce transmissions by moving some residents out. 

Within less than 10 days of the call, the first 90 migrant workers moved into the OCBC Arena, which was the first venue at the Hub to be used. It could house 800 people. 

Pictured here are some workers staying inside the OCBC arena, which housed 800 of them. It was the first venue within the Singapore Sports Hub to be tapped on. (Photo: Singapore Sports Hub)

Panels used to construct partitions were in short supply by the time the National Stadium was used to house migrant workers, but the sports hub team managed to secure tents which allowed them to create individual bed accommodations inside the National Stadium. (Photo: Singapore Sports Hub)

“I was confident we could do it … in the speed that we did it,” Mr Seeto said.

As event organisers, they are used to preparing for anything from sporting competitions to music concerts to ice-skating performances, said Peter Brock, the Singapore Sport Hub’s chief of infrastructure and operations. 

Getting the temporary dormitories ready involved installing partitions to subdivide the hall and keep 10 people inside one makeshift room, buying new beds and bedsheets, allocating space for a sickbay, and repiping the toilets and fixing in shower heads.

By the end of May, once the National Stadium was opened up, the Hub was housing about 2,000 workers.

The Hub representatives said they tried to make the workers’ stay as comfortable as possible, as many of them had come from a prolonged period of isolation. Their two main concerns were making sure there was ample WiFi coverage and food the residents liked. 

READ: Inside the SuperStar Gemini cruise ship for foreign workers who've recovered from COVID-19

Wi-Fi was already available, but its frequency had to be reconfigured - from 5 GHz to 2.4 GHz - after it became clear that most of the workers had older phone models that did not support the existing network, said Mr Brock. 

As for food, the operators were fortunate they already had a catering company that worked specifically for them. SATS Delaware North, the company that provides the food & beverage and catering services for the Hub's venues, was given the task of cooking meals on-site. 

The food was prepared inside the Singapore Sports Hub's central kitchen, which had between 20 to 30 on staff. (Photo: Singapore Sports Hub)

Meals catering to workers with different palates were cooked at the sports hub's central kitchen. The kitchen crew had to cook curries at almost every meal for the South Asian residents, while the other residents usually got steamed or baked vegetables and proteins. (Photo: Singapore Sports Hub)

To prepare for the stint, its general manager Mark MacDonald and a chef went to gather feedback from the cooks and residents at the S11 dormitory in Punggol, which was one of the first dormitories to be gazetted as a COVID-19 isolation area. 

“We were lucky in that sense that because … we were activated later than the others, we were able to have a better understanding of the dos and don’ts from the onset,” said Mr MacDonald, who staffed the central kitchen with 20 to 30 crew members.

Since about 80 per cent of the Hub's temporary residents were South Asian, his team needed to know what curries to cook and made sure to alternate spicier, drier versions and sweeter, nuttier types to satisfy the culinary preferences of men from different parts of the region, as well as switching from cooking Jasmine or Basmati rice to offering the Ponni variety instead. 

Sometimes, special meals were delivered, with mixed results - biryani was so popular the residents kept requesting for it. However, spaghetti was a miss, and the cooks ended up in the kitchen preparing popcorn chicken till 2am that night, Mr MacDonald recalled.

Remittance services, a minimart and pop-up barber were also set up for the residents. Facilities Management And Manpower Consultants’ founder David Selvah Rajo, whose business managing three factory-converted dormitories was affected since the residents had been moved out, called it a “win-win” situation when he was roped in to run these services.

The sports hub team also roped in a dormitory manager to run a minimart on-site, which allowed the workers to buy things like snacks, sarongs, disposable shavers and undergarments. (Photo: Singapore Sports Hub)

Barbers were brought in twice a month after some workers requested for the service. About 50 to 60 men could get their hair cut when the barbers were in. (Photo: Singapore Sports Hub)

His team would stock its van with anything from cigarettes to sarongs and drive down three times a week, and cut the men’s hair twice a month for S$5 per haircut - a $2 discount from the usual price since many of them were out of work, he said. 

To keep the workers occupied, the Hub roped in trainers from ActiveSG to conduct exercise sessions, yoga classes and, sometimes, frisbee games. These were held during each worker’s half- to an hour’s recreation time every morning. 

During their daily half to an hour's recreation time, the migrant workers were allowed to go to designated outdoor spots to exercise. Ball games were scrapped after the trainers found the games got rowdy after a while and made it difficult for the players to keep to safe distancing measures, but frisbee was allowed as it was easier to control the distances between the men and disinfect the equipment. (Photo: Singapore Sports Hub)

The Hub also took advantage of their huge screens inside their halls to broadcast not just safety messages and the news, but also anything from cricket matches to MasterChef India and Mr Bean. 

“It was almost (like) we were running a TV channel on our screens,” Mr Seeto said. 

He said he is proud of the work the Sports Hub did over the four-and-a-half months, recounting a particular moment when the first group of workers moved in. At first, he and his colleagues were nervous about how the setup would be received, and then they saw the expression of on some of the workers' faces. 

READ: 342 workers from Space@Tuas dormitory moved to quarantine facility after new COVID-19 case

“When they (came) here, we could see them as they come in and just look around at everything we built … and you see them look around, looked at the sky and give thanks. And that was just amazing,” he said.

“We (saw) that on the CCTV - they wouldn’t know that we saw it - but it was quite rewarding to us to know that we played a key part in make them feel, I guess, more at home and more comfortable during this period.” 

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

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Source: CNA/rp

Tagged Topics

• COVID-19
 
• migrant worker
 
• foreign worker
 
• dormitory
 
• Singapore Sports Hub
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-sports-hub-2000-migrant-workers-covid-19-dormitory-13178788?cid=cna_flip_070214

Basmati Rice 2020 Global Market Demand, Growth Opportunities and Top Key Players Analysis

 

Basmati Rice 2020 Global Market Demand, Growth Opportunities and Top Key Players Analysis Report

Wiseguyreports.Com Publish Market Research Report On-“Basmati Rice Market 2020 Global Analysis, Size, Share, Trends, Opportunities and Growth, Forecast 2026”

PUNE, MAHARASTRA, INDIA, September 29, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ --

Basmati Rice Market 2020

Global “Basmati Rice Market” 2019 Industry Research Report is specifically a professional and intense analysis of the present state of the Global Basmati Rice industry. Also, the research report differentiates the global Basmati Rice market by prominent players or brands, geographical region, kind, and end-user. This report also states the global Basmati Rice market status, competition arena, investments or market share, development rate, upcoming trends, market leaders, opportunities and risks, sales channels, manufacturers and distributors.

Market Segment by Top Manufacturers, this report covers
LT Foods
Amira Nature Foods
Best Foods
KRBL Limited
Kohinoor Rice
Aeroplane Rice
Tilda Basmati Rice
Amar Singh Chawal Wala
Hanuman Rice Mills
Adani Wilmar
Galaxy Rice Mill
Dunar Foods
Sungold

Request Free Sample Report @ https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2385722-global-basmati-rice-market-by-manufacturers-countries-type-and-application-forecast

Basmati rice has a basic pandan-like or Pandanus amaryllifolius leaf flavour, particularly by the flavoured compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline. Basmati grains compose of 0.09 ppm of this aromatic chemical compound naturally, a level that ranges from 12 times more than basic non-basmati rice varieties, giving basmati its particular spicy fragrance and flavour. This natural fragrance is also discovered in cheese, fruits and other kinds of cereals. It is a flavouring substance approved in the United States and Europe and is implemented in bakery products for delicious aroma.

Worldwide, the Basmati Rice market is majorly lead by developing the need for Direct Edible. Direct Edible majors for around 94.72% of the entire downstream usage of Basmati Rice in global. Basmati Rice can be majorly segmented into Pakistani Basmati Rice, Indian Basmati Rice and Kenya Basmati Rice which Indian Basmati Rice states about 76.57% of Basmati Rice market in 2016. As per our newly executed research and hypothesis, distributors and manufacturers from India are the prominent leaders in the international world of Basmati Rice.

The requirement for particular rice like Basmati rice is enormously developing in Europe, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands, with the enhanced rice usage, which is estimated to prosper the market development. Also, tricyclazole is the fungicide implemented to save the food crops, involving rice crops, from blast disease, and the European Union is estimated to minimize the remaining limit of this fungicide. Also, strict rules abided by the European Union to minimize the tolerance level of tricyclazole fungicide are estimated to grow the basmati rice export from India

Global Basmati Rice Market- Segmental Analysis
Basmati rice market segmentation by relating to product type generally involve Indian Basmati Rice, Pakistani Basmati Rice and Kenya Basmati Rice. basmati rice market segment by terms of application involve
direct edible and deep processing.

Global Basmati Rice Market- Regional Analysis
Market Segment by considering geographical regions involves North America involving the United States, Canada and Mexico. European countries like Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy. Asian Pacific countries like China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia.
South American countries like Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, etc. The Middle East and Africa including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa.

Market News-
Basmati Rice usage and consumption will show a modification of slow growth. In 2023 the usage of Basmati Rice is stated to be 17613.7.9 K MT. On product prices, the discrete downward modifications in recent years will be maintained and executed well in the coming times or future.

Complete Report Details @ https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2385722-global-basmati-rice-market-by-manufacturers-countries-type-and-application-forecast

Table of Contents –Analysis of Key Points
Market Overview
Manufacturers Profiles
Global Basmati Rice Sales, Revenue, Market Share and Competition by Manufacturer (2017-2018)
Basmati Rice Global Market Analysis by Regions
North America Basmati Rice by Country
Europe Basmati Rice by Country
Asia-Pacific Basmati Rice by Country
South America Basmati Rice by Country
Africa and Middle East Basmati Rice by Countries
Basmati Rice Global Market Segment by Type
Basmati Rice Global Market Segment by Application
Basmati Rice Market Forecast (2019-2023)
Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and Dealers
Research Findings and Conclusion
Appendix
List of Tables and Figures
Continued…..

NORAH TRENT
Wise Guy Reports
+162 825 80070
email us here

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