Ships can turn quickly into expensive problems, and their owners are abandoning them in record numbers. This sometimes means sailors are stuck aboard, unable to leave without forfeiting years of pay—and that's just those who can leave in the first place.
Cases have doubled in the past three years, impacting more than 3,000 seafarers across some 230 ships in 2024, according to an Associated Press analysis of U.N. data. Last year's figures could rise even further given the time that can elapse before vulnerable, frustrated workers reach out to report their plight. … The AP found that shipowners often stopped paying workers when their costs skyrocketed or business dried up. Owners commonly left ships docked in ports where crews lacked immigration paperwork to step foot on land or at anchorages only reachable by boat.
Helen Meldrum, a ship inspector with the International Transport Workers' Federation, says many are "essentially imprisoned" on the ships.
The yearslong rise in abandonment cases could mean more seafarers are becoming willing to report abuse by their employers, but the overall figures likely underestimate the true picture of worker exploitation at sea.
Previously:
• World's largest cruise ship, 'Icon of the Seas,' which includes the largest swimming pool at sea and an 'Ultimate Family Townhouse' costing $100,000 per week, sets sail on its first voyage
• Discover the hilariously epic failure of a crypto-fueled libertarian cruise
• Nightmare footage of cruise ship emerging from fog in Venice near-collision
