The Governing Body of the International Labour Office, at its 350th Session (March 2024), decided to convene a meeting of the Subcommittee on Wages of Seafarers of the Joint Maritime Commission in Geneva from 14 to 15 April 2025 to update the ILO minimum basic wage of able seafarers.
The current methodology for updating the basic pay or wages of able seafarers is based on that adopted by the Joint Maritime Commission at its 26th Session (October 1991). This methodology recommends:
(i) that the basic pay or wage be based on a list of countries and areas that are representative of maritime nations (those with at least 2 million gross tons of shipping) and of countries and areas which are major suppliers of seafarers (those with at least 10,000 seafarers);
(ii) that the formula utilize the average US dollar exchange rate for the three most recent months in order to minimize the short-term effect of drastic fluctuations in currency exchange rates;
(iii) that the period of measurement of the change in consumer prices correspond to the full period of time between adjustments; and
(iv) that the formula include a weighting of 1 for countries and areas with fewer than 10,000 seafarers and of 2 for those with 10,000 or more.
