Seafarer Abandonment: Unpaid Wages, Repatriation and the Human Cost | Sea Views

Seafarer abandonment does not always mean a crew has been physically deserted on a dead ship. Sometimes the vessel is still operating, the crew is still working and cargo is still moving, but wages have stopped, contracts have expired, repatriation is being delayed and basic provisions are beginning to disappear.

Julia Gosling and Adam Parnell are joined by Mohamed Arrachedi, ITF FOC Network Coordinator for the Arab World and Iran at the International Transport Workers’ Federation, for a powerful examination of what abandonment really looks like and why it continues despite protections already contained within the Maritime Labour Convention.

Mohamed works directly with seafarers facing unpaid wages, failed repatriation, unsafe living conditions and abandonment. He explains when a situation legally becomes abandonment, why crews should not wait until conditions become desperate before asking for help, and how failures in enforcement can allow abuse to continue.

The conversation also looks beyond the vessel itself. When a seafarer goes months without wages, the consequences can reach an entire family ashore, particularly when that seafarer is the household’s main source of income.

At its heart, this is a conversation about enforcement, accountability and the human cost of allowing abandonment to become normalised.

Resources referenced in this episode:

Seafarer Abandonment Series: Smart Seafaring. A Safe Return

https://youtu.be/fbg_frnyDy0

ITF Seafarers’ Bulletin 2026

https://www.itfseafarers.org/sites/default/files/node/resources/files/ITF-SB26_Layout_RGB-web-1.pdf

ITF Seafarers

https://www.itfseafarers.org