The abandonment of seafarers by unscrupulous shipowners is reaching record levels, according to a recent report by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), but it will only intensify unless deep structural flaws in the way shipowners operate their ships, are improved, according to the CEO of Seafarers’ Rights International (SRI).

Professor Hilton Staniland stressed that while there are many responsible shipowners, and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) continue to work hard to improve transparency and accountability, the playing field is not level and unscrupulous shipowners can abandon ships and crews repeatedly because of deep structural flaws in the maritime industry.

“Chief among these is the absence of any enforceable international requirement for a genuine link between shipowners and their ships. Complex corporate structures and opaque flags allow beneficial owners to hide, shed responsibility, and re-emerge under new identities, while seafarers are left to bear the consequences,” he said.

“When abandonment occurs, seafarers are often forced to rely on centuries-old principles of Admiralty law to survive. Maritime liens for unpaid wages and repatriation costs allow a ship to be arrested and sold, regardless of who owns it. These protections were developed long before the ILO or the IMO existed, precisely because courts recognised the extreme imbalance of power between seafarers and shipowners. That such remedies remain necessary today is a stark indictment of modern enforcement,” he added.

“While the MLC is without prejudice to these rights, in theory, the MLC’s abandonment provisions should provide fast, practical relief. In practice, enforcement is uneven, financial security mechanisms can fail, and seafarers are left navigating legal systems they can neither afford nor control.

“Abandonment is not inevitable, it is the predictable result of regulatory gaps and weak accountability. Flag States, port States and the maritime industry itself have the tools to address it. Requiring full transparency of beneficial ownership as a condition of ship registration would be a decisive step. Treating the deliberate and avoidable abandonment of seafarers as an international criminal offence would send an equally clear signal,” he stressed.

These issues will return to the spotlight at the IMO Legal Committee meeting in April 2026. The question is whether the international community can move beyond expressions of concern and finally close the loopholes that allow seafarers to be treated as disposable. International maritime law should not depend on ancient remedies to correct modern failures.