The criminalisation is one of the most serious problems facing seafarers today, when their vessel is involved in a marine pollution incident, accident at sea or even in port, and when drugs are found on board. InterManager, the international trade association for the ship management sector, says it is concerned at the increasingly harsh treatment of ships’ crew in some parts of the world.
InterManager is in early stages of compiling figures but already the gathering data shed light on the situation being faced by seafarers.
The association knows of 118 cases of criminalisation, but it says suspects there are many more.
Based on the data the association has compiled so far senior officers are most at risk of criminalisation, and in 63% of cases the ship’s Master was the one imprisoned. Tanker crew represent the most frequent vessel type which arrests occurred on (29%), followed by bulk carriers (19%), and general cargo vessels (14%).
By examining its current limited data between 1989 and 2024, InterManager says that the number of cases has increased, peaking in 2023 at 23 cases, with a further 17 in 2024.
Criminalisation occurs across the globe, but cases are most frequent in Asia, with a significant number occurring in both Europe and the Americas.
The association now plans to collate statistics on criminalisation incidents which it plans to share with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and other shipping industry stakeholders.
InterManager is asking for other shipping organisations, maritime colleagues, and seafarers to inform it of cases of criminalisation that they are aware of, to ensure that the data InterManager collects is as comprehensive as possible.
InterManager Secretary-General, Captain Kuba Szymanski, explained: “There is a concern within the shipping industry that seafarers are being unfairly detained when authorities find something wrong with their ship, often when drugs are found onboard but also in other circumstances. Most frequently senior officers are detained, although the whole crew can be, and held without charge for long periods of time and often without any proper legal representation or assistance.
“There is growing recognition across the shipping industry that this situation needs to be addressed, including at the International Maritime Organization. InterManager, as part of the Human Element Industry Group and as an IMO NGO, has stepped up to collect meaningful and useful data that can be used to inform discussions on this issue. Let’s see what the scale of the problem is.”
