In 2024, a record number of seafarers found themselves stranded in foreign ports, unpaid and forgotten by the very companies that once depended on them. These seafarers, who powered the global shipping industry and kept supply chains moving, were left to fend for themselves.
According to a report of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), abandonment of seafarers by shipowners increased by 87 percent in 2024 compared to figures in 2023.
In 2023, abandoned seafarers numbered 1,676; by 2024, the figure ballooned to 3,133, including 273 Filipino seafarers.
The number of vessels abandoned also increased by 136 percent; from 132 in 2023 to 312 in 2024. It was also documented that 28 ships abandoned multiple crews within the same year, with three ships being reported for committing crew abandonment three times, and 25 others doing it twice.
The ITF report, submitted to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), exposed anew the failure of the flags of convenience system, which is already being called out for continuing abuses of the rights of seafarers. 90 percent of abandoned vessels in 2024 sailed under a flag of convenience.
The ITF said the abandoned seafarers were also victims of months of unpaid wages, bad on-board conditions, and inadequate food and clean drinking water. They were also subjected to long periods of work without proper rest.
Based on research of the ITF, the lack of enforcement and responsiveness from flag and port states, the lack of insurance for vessels, and the refusal of shipowners to admit that they were violating the labor rights of their crew, are among the common reasons of abandonment.
ITF Global Inspectorate Coordinator Steve Trowsdale said: “It’s an absolute disgrace that unscrupulous shipowners are abandoning so many crews with impunity by governments and international regulators. This is nothing less than a betrayal of the key workers of global trade.”
In terms of abandonment by nationality, the highest was Indian seafarers at 899, followed by Syrians (410), Ukrainians (288), Filipinos (273), and Indonesians (192). They were collectively owed US$20.1 million in unpaid wages, and the ITF has so far recovered US$10.4 million.
A recent case
A recent case of abandonment involved 15 Filipino seafarers who worked onboard a ship owned by the Imperial Shipping Agency, Sierra Leone. They were supported by groups affiliated with the International Migrants Alliance, the Concerned Seafarers of the Philippines, the ITF, and Migrante International.
The crew members were first stranded on September 18, 2024 because of a generator malfunction. Sometime after the main generator failed, the emergency generator also gave out, plunging the entire ship in darkness. The chief cook used firewood to prepare all their meals.
The company did not respond to the seafarers’ request for generator spare parts, a tugboat to rescue them, and food and water. The crew was forced to subsist only on boiled rice for 24 days when their supplies ran out.
According to the seafarers’ testimonies, they had to rely on rainwater for almost five months, and by that time, a number of crewmen had been on board for over a year and were already suffering from severe physical and mental stress.
The crew was forced to drift the vessel back to land, and came close to the coast of Morocco where the Moroccan authorities rescued them. The ship, however, remains adrift in Moroccan waters. The seafarers have not been paid during the entire time, and some have not received their salaries since July 2024.
Photo credit: iStock/ Mongkolchon Akesin
