Five years of the Code of Conduct: Is seafarer welfare reaching the ship?

September 23 ------ Five years after the launch of the Delivering on Seafarers’ Rights Code of Conduct, evidence is emerging that some shipping companies are making meaningful progress on crew welfare. Yet new research suggests that improvements at company level are not consistently translating into better experiences for seafarers across the wider industry.

The Delivering on Seafarers’ Rights 2026 Progress Report, presents a mixed picture of progress and persistent challenges. Drawing on three previously unpublished data sources, the report combines industry data from RightShip’s Crew Welfare Self-Assessment (CWSA) with two new studies commissioned among seafarers themselves. The CWSA data points to substantial progress in several areas of welfare and human rights. But the experience reported by seafarers themselves is less positive.

While companies participating in the CWSA report high levels of attainment across several areas, the two seafarer studies indicate that basic welfare provisions, including adequate crewing, access to mental-health support and confidence in raising concerns, remain inconsistent.

The report has been published by the Sustainable Shipping Initiative and is the result of a collaborative effort by the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB), the Mission to Seafarers, the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, RightShip, the Sustainable Shipping Initiative and TURTLE. "We need to close the gap between the good players and the long tail of the industry so that seafarers’ rights are respected right across the board," said Francesca Fairbairn, Shipping Lead, Institute for Human Rights and Business. The findings highlight a central challenge for the industry: policies and documented compliance do not necessarily guarantee that seafarers experience those standards in practice.

What is the Code of Conduct?

The Delivering on Seafarers’ Rights Code of Conduct was published in October 2021 by the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB), the Sustainable Shipping Initiative and the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights. It sets out a framework for responsible practice on seafarers’ rights and welfare across the shipping value chain.

Ellie Besley-Gould, Chief Executive Officer of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative, said the findings from the past five years point to both progress and a persistent gap between best practice and the everyday experience of many seafarers. She emphasized that the industry has demonstrated that high standards of crew welfare are achievable, but argued that these standards are not yet consistently embedded across the sector. The priority for the next five years, she said, should therefore be to close that gap.

IN FOCUS: Fatigue

Fatigue remains one of the clearest areas where the gap between documented compliance and the lived experience of seafarers can emerge. The Code of Conduct calls on companies to set crewing levels according to actual workloads and fatigue risks, while ensuring that recorded rest hours reflect what is happening on board in practice, rather than simply what appears on paper.

For operators, good practice means reviewing crewing levels against the demands of individual voyages, giving masters the authority to report actual rest hours without fear of commercial pressure, and treating fatigue as an operational risk rather than a compliance exercise.

The data suggests, however, that there is still a significant gap between these principles and the experience of many seafarers. In the seafarer survey, only 49% said there had been enough crew on board during their most recent contract to work safely without excessive fatigue or breaches of agreed rest hours. Thirty-two per cent said there had not been enough crew, while a further 19% said this was only sometimes the case. This contrasts sharply with the separate Crew Welfare Self-Assessment (CWSA) data, in which appropriate manning and work/rest-hour records were reported at 100%.

Seafarer testimony gathered during a 2026 Mission to Seafarers workshop illustrates the potential disconnect between recorded compliance and operational reality: "On the paperwork, your rest hours are complete. But in reality, you are beaten down by work."

Another seafarer described a situation in which total overtime could exceed 200 hours, while only around 120 hours were formally recognized, with the remainder effectively going unrecorded.

The issue extends beyond working conditions and crew welfare. Fatigue is consistently identified as a contributing factor in maritime incidents, making accurate reporting of working hours and adequate crewing an important element of operational safety.

Menand Karsan, General Manager, Marine, Rio Tinto noted: “By uplifting crew welfare standards, we strengthen safety, resilience and ultimately operational performance across the fleet.”

Where records do not reflect reality, the effectiveness of compliance systems — and the safety assurance they are intended to provide — can be undermined.

Closing this gap will require masters to be able to report actual rest hours without fear of commercial repercussions. It will also require the industry to develop vessel-level indicators that can distinguish genuine compliance from compliance that exists primarily on paper.

Charterers have a role to play too. Crewing adequacy could be given greater weight in vessel-selection processes and incorporated into charterparty terms, helping to make the commercial value of proper manning more visible alongside the costs associated with inadequate crewing and fatigue. "When seafarers are mentally and physically supported and have adequate opportunities to rest, communicate and enjoy their free time, they are better positioned to maintain concentration, make sound decisions and work effectively as a team," highlighted Georgios Tsoukatos, DPA-HSQ/Vetting Manager, Diana Shipping Services.

Source: safety4sea.com