The ILO's maritime labour convention

Abstract

As a unified standard providing wide coverage on seafarers’ rights and decent working conditions, MLC 2006 is expected to have far reaching impacts on the global maritime industry. Although it is regarded as the “fourth pillar” of the international regulatory regime along with MARPOL, SOLAS and STCW, the role MLC 2006 will play is much more important since it is the only convention dealing with the crew’s conditions on board. Being at the forefront of the global maritime industry and a world renowned port, Singapore will definitely be affected by the implementation of MLC 2006 in various ways. Therefore, it is of crucial importance for the shipping industry in Singapore to appreciate the potential impact of implementation of this convention.

The objective of this research project is to evaluate different impacts across the shipping industry brought by the enforcement of this convention. Mainly through interviews and surveys, the research team acquired views and insights from the three main parties involved in the implementation process of MLC 2006, namely: ship owning and management companies, Flag and Port authority (MPA) and seafarer’s unions. Besides the combined information and results, each report of the research team will focus on one party and demonstrate the findings separately. This report concentrates more on the views of the seafarers’ unions.

After interviewing qualitative respondents from 15 organizations representing the three main parties, the research team found that the shipping community in Singapore is well aware of MLC 2006 and all parties have been devoting efforts to cope with the potential impact. However, it will only be after the regulatory authority initiates the implementation of the convention and sets out clear directions, that the shipping industry will be able to successfully integrate the MLC 2006 into daily operations.