"Seafarer abandonment crisis: thousands left behind in shipping’s worst year on record"

ITF data shows spiralling ship and seafarer abandonment at worst ever levels - Indian seafarers worst affected with more than 1,000 abandoned out of a total of more than 6,000 abandoned seafarers in 2026.

Seafarer abandonment hit record levels in 2025, according to new data compiled by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), with 6,223 seafarers abandoned across 410 ships.

Seafarer abandonment is in crisis, with the data marking the sixth year in a row that the number of vessels on which abandonments occurred has broken records and the fourth year in a row that the total number of seafarers abandoned has broken records: the numbers represent a 31% increase in such ship abandonments compared to 2024, and a 32% increase in seafarer abandonment. [...]

"It’s nothing short of a disgrace that, yet again, we are seeing record numbers of seafarers abandoned by unscrupulous ship owners,” said David Heindel, Chair of the ITF Seafarers’ Section.

"Every day, all around the world, seafarers face horrific violations of their human and labour rights, all so that bottom-feeding companies can make a quick buck at their expense. It’s very clear that this is a systemic issue in the industry – and that means we need the entire industry to come together with seafarers and their unions to say, ‘enough is enough’, and take action together to end this crisis." [...]

Seafarer nationalities, abandonment locations

Indian seafarers were the worst affected national group in 2025, as in 2024, with 1,125 seafarers abandoned – at the end of 2025, the Indian Government announced that ‘blacklisting’ measures would be taken to protect seafarers from ships with a record of repeat abandonments and other bad practices.

Filipino seafarers were the second worst affected, with 539 abandoned, followed by Syrians with 309 abandoned.

The worst region for abandonment was the Middle East, followed by Europe. The two countries where most ship abandonments took place – the countries with the highest number of vessels on which abandonments occurred – both of which have significantly higher abandonments than any other country, were Türkiye (61) and the United Arab Emirates (54). [...]

The ITF is calling for the following steps to be taken to tackle seafarer abandonment:

• Flag States to be compelled to log a ship’s beneficial owner, including contact details, as a pre-condition for registration
• National blacklisting of ships to protect seafarers from ships with repeated involvement in abandonment cases, following the lead of India’s DG Shipping
• Government investigations into the use of Flags of Convenience, as is currently underway in the USA

Case study: the Eleen Armonia

One Indian seafarer who is currently abandoned alongside three other Indian crew spoke to the ITF about his ongoing ordeal. The seafarer and three of his crew mates have been aboard the ship, the Eleen Armonia, off the coast of Nigeria, since June without receiving pay – the ITF filed the ship as abandoned in August 2025. Despite repeated appeals and the expiration of contracts, they have not been repatriated by the ship owner – Eleen Marine – despite seeing other crew members ‘signing off’ to go home.

“Every month we’ve asked the company to pay our wages and send us home, but they don’t care. We’re in touch with many authorities, including the ITF, who are trying to help us, but right now it feels like we will only go home when the company decides,” the seafarer said.

“The situation here is worse than hell. We keep hearing false promises from the company, it’s maybe 10 times that they’ve promised us we can go home, then nothing. The ship’s insurer contacted us in December and said that since our wages have been pending for more than two months they would get involved and help us sign off. But then they said they are still waiting for company permission, and the company hasn’t replied for a week.”

He added: “It’s become a daily routine for me that I can’t sleep from stress, and if this continues, I honestly don’t know how it will affect my health. I joined this vessel quickly because the assignment meant I could spend Christmas and New Year with my new daughter and family - I have now missed Christmas, New Year and an important family event. As seafarers, it feels really shameful that we’re treated this way.” [...]

Agreements Eleen Marine purchased from ISU-Lanibra are believed to have expired in June and have not been renewed.

The seafarer’s name has not been used to protect his identity. Seafarers fear reprisals and blacklisting by employers for speaking out.

The Bulgarian shipping company Eleen Marine did not respond to requests from the German newspaper taz for comment.