Indians were the most abandoned nationality of seafarers in 2025—the second consecutive year that this has happened, according to a UK-based global transport workers' union.
The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) said on Thursday that as many as 6,223 seafarers had been abandoned across 410 vessels, out of which 1,125 were of Indian origin.
Filipino sailors were the second-worst affected with 539 abandoned, followed by Syrians with 309 abandoned.
Turkiye (61) and the United Arab Emirates (54) were identified as the two countries where the most ship abandonments took place.
The report noted that this was a major maritime crisis, with the number of ship desertions in 2025 seeing a 31 per cent spike from 2024—the sixth year with such a spike—and the number of seafarer abandonments in 2025 jumping by 32 per cent over the same period—the fourth year with such a jump.
The ITF will submit its findings to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) ahead of a legal committee meeting this year, and has welcomed the Indian government's 'blacklisting' measures to protect its sailors from vessels with a bad track record.
"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.
"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," he added.
The IMO defines seafarer abandonment under three criteria:
1) Failing to cover the cost of a seafarer’s repatriation.
2) Leaving a seafarer without necessary maintenance and support.
3) Unilaterally severing ties with a seafarer, including failure to pay contractual wages for a period of at least two months.
The ITF report also noted that vessels flying Flags of Convenience (FOCs) were also a major issue, against which it had been running a campaign for more than seven decades.
FOCs are typically flags of a particular country used by vessels from another country to benefit from lower taxes, reduced operating costs, or other easier regulations.
The report showed how the use of FOCs was tied to seafarer desertion—a whopping 82 per cent, or 337 vessels, of the total 410 had been flying FOCs. It also estimated that about 30 per cent of all the merchant ships in the world were flying FOCs.
“How many more seafarers have to be put through the misery of abandonment until we see the changes that we know are needed to end this disgraceful practice?" questioned ITF General Secretary Stephen Cotton.
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