Australia is a signatory to the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC) which was developed by the International Labour Organisation. The MLC establishes and upholds modern living and working conditions for the estimated 1.4 million seafarers who keep the world’s flow of global trade moving.
AMSA strictly enforces the MLC under its robust ship inspection regime. AMSA has a zero tolerance for ship operators who fail to pay their seafarers in full and on time, or provide safe and healthy living and working conditions. Ships which are caught breaching the MLC in Australian waters risk being detained and even banned by AMSA which comes at great financial and reputational cost to ship operators.
The majority of ships which have been banned by AMSA have been for serious MLC-related failures such as failure to pay their seafarers in full and on time. AMSA does not release these ships from detention until evidence has been provided that those seafarers have been paid all outstanding wages.