Port State Control to Launch Crew Wage Inspection Campaign

The Tokyo and Paris Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on Port State Control are gearing up to initiate a three-month joint concentrated inspection campaign (CIC) focused on crew wages and seafarers' employment agreements, beginning on September 1.

Throughout the campaign, any identified non-compliances may result in the recording of deficiencies, directives for the ship's master to correct the issues, or even the detention of the vessel. The findings from this campaign will be reported to the governing bodies of both MoUs and may also be forwarded to the International Labour Organization and the International Maritime Organization.

This initiative comes at a critical time as the number of new crew abandonment cases appears set to break annual records once again, leaving international regulators struggling to address one of the maritime industry's most serious issues.

According to international law, specifically the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, as amended, seafarers are entitled to be paid at least once a month. If a crew is owed two months or more in wages or is deprived of adequate food, water, and fuel, they are considered abandoned.

Data from the IMO underscores the alarming increase in abandonment cases, with known instances skyrocketing from just over a dozen annually a decade ago to 143 cases in 2023.