Shipping

The ILO, since its founding, has adopted many international labour standards for seafarers. In 2006, the 94th Maritime Session of the International Labour Conference adopted the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006. The Convention consolidated nearly all earlier ILO standards for seafarers into a single Convention. The MLC, 2006, entered into force on 20 August 2013, establishing minimum working and living standards for all seafarers on those ships. The other key ILO standard for seafarers is the Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003 (No. 185), which provides a new seafarers' identity document that enhances maritime security while facilitating shore leave and the professional movement of seafarers. The main focus of ILO's maritime programme is the promotion of these standards using all of the ILO's means of action and through the publication of codes of practice, guidelines and reports addressing seafarers' labour issues. The Subcommittee on Wages of Seafarers of the Joint Maritime Commission periodically meets to updating of the recommended minimum monthly basic pay or wage figure for able seafarers, as provided for in the MLC, 2006. The Special Tripartite Committee of the MLC, 2006, among other things, considers amendments to the Convention and keeps it under continuous review.

Key resources

Abandoned ship docked at the wharf. Port of Genoa, Italy.

Database on reported incidents of abandonment of seafarers

Committees and Joint meetings

The line graphs show a time series of modelled global and regional employment estimates at the sectoral level. The ILO modelled estimates generally cover 189 countries, offering a comprehensive set of internationally comparable labour statistics. These include both reported data and imputed figures for countries with missing information. The imputations are generated using econometric models developed by the ILO.

For more detailed labour market indicators and country-level data, visit the Sectoral Employment Statistics page of the ILOSTAT database.

The line graphs show a time series of modelled global and regional employment estimates at the sectoral level. The ILO modelled estimates generally cover 189 countries, offering a comprehensive set of internationally comparable labour statistics. These include both reported data and imputed figures for countries with missing information. The imputations are generated using econometric models developed by the ILO.

For more detailed labour market indicators and country-level data, visit the Sectoral Employment Statistics page of the ILOSTAT database.