It is a requirement under the Maritime Labour Convention for shipping companies to repatriate seafarers at the end of their contract however, some companies are unwilling to do this and instead expect the seafarer to fund their own repatriations.
The absence of repatriation offered by shipping companies may be classed as seafarer abandonment. Some companies are unwilling to repatriate seafarers at the end of contract at no cost to the seafarer – a requirement under the Maritime Labour Convention, absent of which a seafarer may be classed as ‘abandoned’.
Operators fail to prepare visas and schedule the arrival of replacement crew in time to repatriate at the end of contracts, often to avoid countries where travel is more expensive or complicated, or to minimise the frequency and costs of crew change. Blame is often disingenuously assigned to states’ immigration rules.