The Maritime Labour Convention is the seafarer's bill of rights: the contract you sign, your wages, your hours of rest, your leave, the trip home and the right to complain all rest on it. Port state control checks it on every ship, and it is the convention a seafarer should know best, because it is the one that protects them. This page sets out what it guarantees, the numbers worth remembering, what to check before you sign, what to do when something goes wrong, and the questions officers get at interviews. For a walk through the contract itself — salary, overtime and leave — see our guide to the seafarer contract.
In short
- MLC 2006 is the ILO convention on seafarers' working and living conditions, in force since 20 August 2013.
- No crewing agency may charge you for a job. You pay only for your own medical certificate, seaman's book and passport.
- Wages are paid at least monthly, leave is at least 2.5 days per month, and a period of service on board is shorter than 12 months.
- If the shipowner abandons the crew, an insurer pays up to four months of wages and the trip home.
What MLC is
The Maritime Labour Convention was adopted by the International Labour Organization in 2006 and came into force on 20 August 2013, after ratification by 30 states covering a third of world tonnage. It brought almost 70 older ILO maritime instruments together into one, and it has since been ratified by more than a hundred states covering most of the world fleet. It is often called the fourth pillar of shipping law, next to SOLAS, MARPOL and STCW.
It is built in three layers: the Articles, the Regulations, and the Code — Part A, mandatory standards, and Part B, guidelines. A ship of a state that has not ratified it gets no easier treatment: in the port of a ratifying state it is inspected against the same standards.
The five titles:
- Minimum requirements to work on a ship: age, medical certificate, training, recruitment and placement.
- Conditions of employment: the agreement, wages, hours of work and rest, leave, repatriation, compensation when the ship is lost, manning, career development.
- Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering.
- Health protection, medical care, welfare and social security.
- Compliance and enforcement: flag inspections, certificates, complaints, port state control.
Key numbers
Before you go on board (title 1)
- Age: at least 16. Under 18 — no night work and no work likely to endanger health or safety.
- Medical certificate: valid for no more than two years (one year under 18); the colour vision part for no more than six years. If it expires during a voyage, it stays valid until the next port with a recognised doctor, for no more than three months. Read more in our guide to the seafarer medical.
- Recruitment and placement (regulation 1.4): an agency must be licensed or regulated, keep no blacklists, and charge the seafarer nothing for recruitment, placement or a job. The only costs you may bear are your national medical certificate, your seaman's book and your passport; visas are paid by the shipowner. The agency must also have insurance or an equivalent system to compensate seafarers if it or the shipowner fails to meet its obligations.
Contract, wages, hours, leave and going home (title 2)
The seafarers' employment agreement. It is signed by you and the shipowner or their representative. You must be given the chance to read it and take advice before signing, and you keep a signed original. It must state at least: your full name, date and place of birth; the shipowner's name and address; where and when it was signed; your capacity; your wages or how they are calculated; paid annual leave; how and when it ends, including notice; health and social security benefits; your repatriation entitlement; and any collective agreement it refers to. The notice period for ending it early is no shorter than seven days. At the end you get a record of employment, which must not contain any judgement on the quality of your work or your wages.
Wages are paid at intervals of no more than one month, with a monthly account showing what was paid, what was deducted and at what exchange rate. You can have part of your wages sent home as an allotment. The ILO recommends a minimum basic wage for an able seafarer and reviews it every few years.
Hours of work and rest. The flag chooses one of two limits: no more than 14 hours of work in any 24 hours and 72 hours in any 7 days, or no less than 10 hours of rest in any 24 hours and 77 hours in any 7 days. Rest may be split into no more than two periods, one of at least six hours, with no more than 14 hours between them. Records are kept, and you get a copy signed by the master.
Leave. At least 2.5 calendar days of paid annual leave for each month of employment. An agreement to give up the minimum paid leave is not allowed, except in cases the authority provides for. Shore leave is to be granted for your health and well-being.
Repatriation (regulation 2.5). You are entitled to go home at no cost to you when the agreement expires abroad, when it is ended by the shipowner — or by you for justified reasons — and when you can no longer carry out your duties, for example through illness or injury. The longest period of service on board before you are entitled to repatriation is less than 12 months. The shipowner pays the travel, accommodation and food on the way, your wages until you arrive, the transport of your personal luggage and medical treatment until you are fit to travel. The shipowner may not ask for an advance payment or deduct the cost from your wages, unless you were found in serious default of your obligations.
Abandonment. Since 2017 every ship must carry financial security against abandonment. A crew is abandoned when the shipowner does not pay for repatriation, leaves the seafarers without the necessary maintenance and support — food, water, fuel, medical care — or otherwise cuts ties with them, including by not paying wages for at least two months. The insurer then covers up to four months of outstanding wages and entitlements, repatriation and essential needs. A certificate of this financial security must be posted on board where the crew can see it. Since the 2018 amendments, a seafarer held captive by pirates keeps their agreement and wages for the whole period of captivity.
Loss of the ship. If the ship is lost or founders, each seafarer is paid an indemnity for every day of the resulting unemployment; it may be limited to two months' wages.
On board (titles 3 and 4)
- Food and drinking water are free of charge for the whole period of engagement; the ship's cook is trained and at least 18 years old. The master, or someone the master designates, inspects the food and water stores regularly and records it.
- Accommodation on ships built after the convention came into force: single cabins of at least 4.5 m² on ships under 3,000 GT, 5.5 m² from 3,000 to 10,000 GT, and 7 m² over 10,000 GT; headroom of at least 203 cm; separate sanitary facilities, a mess room, recreational facilities.
- Communications: reasonable access to ship-to-shore telephone, e-mail and internet where available, at a reasonable cost.
- Medical care on board is free; in port you may see a doctor or dentist without delay, where practicable. A ship with 100 or more people on board on an international voyage of more than three days carries a doctor; other ships have a trained person in charge of medical care.
- Sickness and injury (regulation 4.2): the shipowner pays medical care and wages while you are on board. If you are landed, full wages until you are repatriated, and then wages in whole or in part for at least 16 weeks. Since 2017 every ship also carries financial security for compensation in case of death or long-term disability caused by work.
- Safety and health: risk assessment, accident reporting, and since the 2016 amendments guidance against harassment and bullying on board.
The amendments in force since 23 December 2024 made the free drinking water explicit and added, among other things, the right to communications described above.
Certificates and complaints (title 5)
The Maritime Labour Certificate — valid for up to five years, with an intermediate inspection — and the Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance (DMLC) are carried by ships of 500 GT or more on international voyages. Part I of the DMLC is drawn up by the flag and lists the national requirements; part II is drawn up by the shipowner and says how the ship meets them. Sixteen areas are inspected: minimum age, medical certificates, qualifications, the employment agreements, the use of recruitment services, hours of work and rest, manning levels, accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering, safety and accident prevention, medical care, complaint procedures, payment of wages, and the two financial securities — for repatriation and for the shipowner's liability.
Complaining on board (regulation 5.1.5). Every ship has an on-board complaint procedure, and every seafarer gets a copy of it with the contact details of the flag and of their home state. You can complain to your head of department or to the master, and also directly to the flag or other authorities. You can be accompanied or represented, and you cannot be victimised for complaining.
Complaining ashore (regulation 5.2.2). In any port of a state that has ratified MLC you can complain to the port state control officer. A complaint can lead to an inspection and, for serious breaches, to the ship's detention. Unions and seafarers' welfare centres in port can also help.
Keep the evidence: your copy of the agreement, the monthly wage accounts, your rest-hour records, dates and amounts.
What they ask at the interview
- Masters, chief officers and chief engineers: the two parts of the DMLC; the on-board complaint procedure; rest-hour records and what to do with a non-conformity; wage accounts and allotments; organising a repatriation; food and water inspections; what an inspector checks under MLC.
- Ratings and junior officers: the rest-hour limits; what your agreement must contain; your leave and when you are entitled to go home; how to complain.
- CES and management-level tests: MLC questions appear in the tests for senior officers.
Common mistakes
- Paying an agency for a job. MLC forbids it; whoever asks for money for a placement is breaking the rules, and it is a common route to a fake vacancy. On SeaJobs.pro applying for a vacancy is free.
- Signing an agreement you have not read, or one that differs from what was promised. Read it before you fly, and keep your copy.
- Not keeping the wage accounts and rest-hour copies. They are your evidence.
- Waiting too long when wages stop. Two months without pay is one of the triggers for the abandonment cover — contact the flag, port state control or a union early.
- Thinking a complaint must go through the master. You can go to the flag or a port state control officer directly, and you cannot be punished for it.
- Agreeing "informally" to stay beyond the period of service. Every month past the agreed date should be in writing, and the limit is less than 12 months on board.
Test yourself
Can a crewing agency charge you for a job?
How often must wages be paid?
How much paid leave does MLC guarantee?
What is the longest period of service before you are entitled to repatriation?
When is a crew considered abandoned, and what does the insurance cover?
Where can you complain if your rights are violated?
Who on board needs this
Everyone — the able seaman, the ordinary seaman, the cook and the messman as much as the officers. The master, the chief officer and the chief engineer also answer for it on board: they keep the records an inspector reads.
Keep the dates of your contracts and your sea time in your maritime CV: with them in one place, a missing month of wages or an overlong contract is easy to prove.
Source: the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, as amended in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2022. National law and collective agreements may give you more; they may not give you less. This page is a study aid, not a legal text.