Abandonment of Seafarers
Seafarer abandonment is a grave and growing humanitarian issue in the global maritime sector, affecting thousands of seafarers each year. Abandonment is the unlawful desertion of seafarers by shipowners, leaving crew without pay, essential provisions, or the means to return home.
Addressing this crisis is fundamental to our mission and aligns directly with our strategy of safeguarding seafarer welfare and promoting decent work at sea.
Definition
The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), 2006 defines abandonment as a situation in which a shipowner ceases fulfilling obligations to seafarers, including the non-payment of wages for at least two months, failure to provide food, water, fuel, and medical care, or refusal to cover repatriation costs.
In practical terms, this leaves crew marooned—often in foreign ports or on vessels in precarious conditions—without means of redress or support. In order to evade debts, shipowners often abandon ships and crews, leveraging unpaid labour to secure credit.
Impacts are severe and include:
- Prolonged deprivation of food, water, fuel, and medical supplies
- Psychological trauma and economic devastating hardship for seafarers and their families.
- Impact on families of seafarers: the families often face poverty, food insecurity, and lost access to education, as seafarers’ wages are generally their primary income.
With an estimated two million merchant seafarers underpinning global trade, each abandonment case represents not only individual tragedy but also a systemic failure within the maritime industry.
Prevalence and Impact
Despite international attempts at monitoring and prevention, the scale of abandonment is rising. The International Labour Organization (ILO) records thousands of cases annually, predominantly in developing regions, though underreporting masks the true extent.
Recent statistics indicate a dramatic escalation in the number of abandonment cases, with 132 vessels reported in 2023, involving 1,676 seafarers abandoned, and 312 vessels in 2024, involving 3,133 abandoned seafarers.
Data shows that over 90% of abandoned ships in 2024 flew a flag of an open registry (Panama, Palau, Tanzania, Comoros, Cameroon, and Bahrain accounted for the majority). In some cases, vessels had no identifiable flag at all.
Root Causes of Abandonment
Abandonment is driven by several factors:
- Financial Instability of Shipowners: Insolvency, mismanagement, and failed shipping contracts can mean wages go unpaid and repatriation is neglected. For some owners, abandonment is cynically cheaper than clearing debts or scrapping obsolete ships.
- Legal and Regulatory Loopholes: The shipping industry’s opaque company structures—shell companies, hidden beneficial ownership, and lax compliance—enable evasion of responsibility. This is further exacerbated by maritime insurance policies that may exclude coverage for workers.
- Flags of Convenience: Ships may be registered in open registries, under ‘Flags of convenience’. These open registries are typically located in countries with lax labour laws, enabling owners to bypass regulations and exploit workers. Flags of convenience allow shipowners to avoid higher regulatory standards and taxes, contributing to an environment where abandonment is both feasible and profitable.
- Weak Oversight and Enforcement: Chronic deficiencies in flag and port state controls lead to impunity. Some port states lack the resources or political will for timely intervention.
- Operational Failures: Vessel detentions, accidents, or regulatory non-compliance may leave owners unable—or unwilling—to support their crews.
- Sanctions against Russia have led to increased co-operation between Russia, Iran and China, particularly in respect of the movement of oil, and subsequently leading to an increase in oil tanker abandonment.
Legal and Institutional approaches
The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), 2006 is the primary international instrument governing seafarer welfare, including mandatory financial security for wages and repatriation. It empowers flag and port states, with the IMO and ILO maintaining a database of abandonment cases.
Unfortunately, some port States are not signatories to the Convention, leading to inconsistencies in compliance and enforcement. Several maritime and port welfare charities, including the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and International Seafarers Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN), play a crucial support role, but systemic gaps remain.
Our Response and Strategy
Current trends highlight an urgent need for coordinated action by governments, industry, and civil society. The Seafarers’ Charity, with our delivery partners and other maritime stakeholders, aims to support sectoral reform. We aim to ensure that those responsible for the abandonment of seafarers are held to account; whilst mitigating against the effects and impacts of abandonment. We are determined to bolster emergency support and policy advocacy—ensuring no seafarer is left behind.
