Quarantine Anchorage

A quarantine anchorage is a designated anchoring area where an arriving ship awaits free pratique, the port health authority’s clearance that the vessel is free of communicable disease and may proceed. The International Health Regulations 2005, Articles 27 to 28, and the WHO maritime declaration of health govern pratique; SOLAS and the ISPS regime treat such anchorages as places where access control and security screening apply before berthing. Historically marked by the yellow flag (signal Q under the International Code of Signals). It is a health-control area, not an ISPS-defined term.