One in three seafarers still being forced to pay illegal recruitment fees, survey finds

January 14, 2025

A third of seafarers have said that they have paid a fee to get a job, with many reporting that they had gone into debt to do so, according to a 2024 survey.

Some 31% of respondents had been asked to pay a fee during their career, with 28% saying they were asked during 2024 – demonstrating that this remains a serious problem for maritime workers.

The survey was conducted by the recruitment platform Turtle and the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB), with support from the International Transport Workers’ Federation and The Mission to Seafarers. It follows on from previous studies conducted by IHRB on recruitment fraud.

Most of the time, respondents said that the person demanding payment was a crewing or manning agent. In 41 percent of cases, it was companies or individuals linked to a crewing agency or to a shipping company. Payments were almost always requested in cash or by bank transfer.

Almost half of those who were charged fees paid between US$500 and US$5,000, with some seafarers reporting that they were charged more than US$10,000. About seven percent of respondents said it had taken them more than five years to pay off the recruitment fee.

The research found that 74% of those asked to pay a fee did so, possibly because they felt they had no choice. Although demanding a recruitment fee is illegal under the Maritime Labour Convention, only one in five seafarers said they had tried to tell someone in authority about what had happened to them.

The researchers called on the industry and governments to end the practice by providing channels for seafarers to find jobs without paying fees, as well as opportunities for them to report incidents – which can currently be done via the International Transport Workers’ Federation by emailing jobscam@itf.org.uk – and systems to punish those who charge seafarers illegal recruitment fees. They also suggested a mechanism to reimburse seafarers in whole or in part for the fees they have been forced to pay.