Uncertainty and unpredictability best describe the outlook for 2017. Will the downturn in oil prices and global economy continue? Will protectionist and isolationist policies be imposed? For shipping companies, success will depend on their ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Those shipping companies that cannot adapt will face insolvency and, for their seafarers, the risk of abandonment.
Fortunately, seafarers will be better protected against being abandoned when amendments to the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC, 2006) come into force on Jan. 18. Flag states will require their ships to provide proof of financial responsibility for repatriating their crews and for paying up to four months’ wages. Shipowners must also provide proof of financial responsibility to pay any claims relating to a seafarer’s death or long-term disability caused by an occupational injury, illness, or hazard.
The new requirements will affect those 80 countries whose ships comprise more than 90 percent of the world’s tonnage, that have ratified the MLC, 2006.
The United States has not yet ratified the MLC, 2006 and cannot enforce the convention’s protections for seafarers on its ships or in its ports. US law does, however, provide protections for seafarers from being abandoned. In 2014, the Abandoned Seafarers Fund was established by federal statute to provide necessary support, including wages, lodging, repatriation, and medical care for seafarers abandoned in the United States.
The Abandoned Seafarers Fund is to be financed by penalties collected from federal maritime pollution cases. So far, no money has been deposited in the fund, and there are no guidelines on how funds will be dispersed. We hope the US Department of Justice will start depositing penalties into the Abandoned Seafarers Fund and the US Coast Guard will finalize guidelines for administering it soon. Seafarers need all the protections they can get in these uncertain times.