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Day of the Seafarer: online tool tackles illegal crew recruitment charges
A new online tool has been introduced by an institute to help the maritime industry tackle the illegal recruitment fees being charged to seafarers
Seafarers worldwide are being forced to pay recruitment fees, putting them into debt to secure positions on vessels, in a widespread practice that is illegal under the Maritime Labour Convention.
To support the maritime industry in tackling this issue, the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) along with a Hamburg, Germany-based maritime manning company, Turtle, have launched a new online tool, backed by major shipping companies.
IHRB said the toolkit provides a five-phase approach to risk management and compliance to help companies identify and mitigate recruitment-fee risks across their operations and supply chains.
The phases move from foundational controls to active oversight, supported by collective action throughout, said the IHRB.
More than 30 major global shipowners, managers, operators, charterers and container cargo owners, insurers and investors have backed this initiative.
These include Odfjell, CMA CGM, NYK Ship Management, Wilhelmsen Ship Management, IMC Ship Management, Anglo American, Louis Dreyfus, Mercuria, Inter IKEA Group, Gard and South32.
“No worker should face the scourge of recruitment fees,” said Francesca Fairbairn, who leads IHRB’s work within the shipping industry.
“Yet our research shows these illegal fees are endemic in shipping, putting a heavy burden on the seafarers who transport our goods and keep 90% of the world’s trading running,” she said.
“Further, the financial stress of the debt they face as a result of fees can lead to unsafe working conditions on board ships. Seafarers deserve better.”
The online toolkit was created following IHRB and Turtle’s research into illegal recruitment fees, which showed that 31% of seafarers had been asked to pay a recruitment fee to secure a job on board a merchant vessel.
“Part of the problem is knowing if fees are being paid by crew up the chain, and many seafarers are unaware that these fees are illegal,” said Ms Fairbairn.
“We hope this simple tool will equip the maritime industry to address fees in their systems and ideally, prevent them. The toolkit is designed to be used as a living compliance instrument, not a one-time audit.”
Of the seafarers surveyed in the 2024 study, almost half of those who were charged fees paid between US$500 and US$5,000, with some seafarers reporting being charged more than US$10,000. 74% of those asked to pay a fee did so, in part due to a lack of awareness that the practice is illegal.
“You cannot solve a talent shortage with an industry that charges people to enter it,” said Turtle founder and chief executive Isabelle Rickmers.
“Illegal recruitment fees do more than break the law; they poison the very entry point our industry most needs to protect,” she said.
“When a newcomer’s first experience is exploitation, we lose them before they begin, along with everyone they would have brought in behind them.”
IHRB said having to pay illegal recruitment fees raises “levels of debt, pushing many seafarers towards modern slavery conditions and are linked to unsafe conditions aboard ships.”
IHRB, Turtle, and others like the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network are raising awareness among seafarers to curb payment of illegal fees.
According to the research, 62% of the organisations demanding recruitment fees are crewing and manning agencies, while 41% are by a company hired by the agent to recruit mariners, 20% are by online platforms, and 12% are by the shipping company.
The top countries for charging recruitment fees are India, the Philippines, Nigeria, Ukraine and Ghana.
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