THE rapid growth of seafarer abandonment cases over the past 18 months is increasingly concentrated in vessels registered to a group of smaller flags with poor safety records, according to analysis of Lloyd’s List Intelligence data.

Smaller flags have grown at an explosive pace in recent years, raising concerns from industry experts and the US government over their ability to effectively oversee the organisations that conduct surveys on their behalf and ensure the safe operation of their fleets. 

An analysis of Lloyd’s List Intelligence data reveals the flag states with the highest frequency of abandonments in their fleets.

Panama had the most abandonments in 2024, but it is also the world’s second-largest registry by tonnage, and flags more than double the number of vessels of the next five registries with the most abandonments.

As such, the more pertinent figure to study is the number of abandonments per vessel among the registries with the most reported cases, which accounts for their size too.

By that metric, Tanzania, Cameroon, Comoros, Palau and St Kitts and Nevis come out on top, each with an abandonment per vessel figure of more than 0.01, which means that statistically more than 1% of their fleet was abandoned in 2024.

By contrast, Panama’s figure was 0.004, some orders of magnitude below the other five. Between 2020 and 2024, Tanzania, Cameroon, Comoros, Palau and St Kitts and Nevis grew 76%, 119%, 109%, 141% and 143%, respectively (by vessel count).

The five registries also rank poorly in the latest performance lists compiled under the Paris and Tokyo memorandums of understanding on port state control, which cover detentions between 2021-2023.

Tanzania, Cameroon, St Kitts and Nevis, and Palau all ranked in the third and bottom tier of the last Tokyo MoU, while Palau was at the bottom of the second tier. In the Paris MoU, Cameroon, Tanzania, Comoros and Palau were ranked in the third tier, while St Kitts and Nevis was bottom of the second tier.

Flag states, of course, are not responsible for abandonments, but they do have responsibilities over the vessels that fly their flag and the companies that own those vessels. They also have responsibilities under the Maritime Labour Convention (which St Kitts, Palau, Comoros and Tanzania have all ratified, although Cameroon has not).

A seafarer is considered abandoned by the Maritime Labour Convention when the shipowner fails to cover repatriation costs, leaves the seafarer without support or maintenance, or has severed ties with the seafarer, including a failure to pay wages for two months.

Under the amended MLC, flag states must ensure that a financial security system is in place for ships flying their flag to cover wages, food and other supplies, as well as the cost of repatriation.

They must also “facilitate the prompt repatriation of seafarers” when they are deemed abandoned under the MLC.

The Palau International Ship Registry said it was “firmly committed to the protection of seafarers and the rigorous enforcement of international maritime labour standards, including full adherence to the Maritime Labour Convention”.

It added: “Every reported case of abandonment is treated with urgency and compassion, with immediate steps taken to investigate and assist the affected crew, whether through administrative enforcement or direct engagement with operators.”

The registry said 11 of the abandonments listed on the International Labor Organization’s database were linked to a single shipmanager called Middle East Marine, of which three vessels have recorded cases against them twice.

PISR said it had taken “decisive action” in response, suspending or revoking certificates for the vessels in question.

“We continue to conduct administrative hearings to press for full payment of outstanding wages and repatriation of crew members. In parallel, we are reviewing and tightening our internal processes further to strengthen compliance oversight during vessel onboarding and monitoring,” the registry said.

Lloyd’s List also contacted the registries of St Kitts and Nevis, Tanzania and Cameroon for comment.

Cases of abandonment more than doubled between 2023 and 2024, increasing by more than 130%. Whether that explosion is down to more abandonments or simply better awareness or reporting, is up for debate.

ITF inspectorate co-ordinator Steve Trowsdale told Lloyd’s List earlier in the year that he thought it was more the latter.

“I think in recent years, the reporting of abandonments has been better because I think so many seafarers are now aware of what constitutes abandonment according to the Maritime Labour Convention,” he said.

“So they know that after two months, they can stick their hand in the air and say: ‘We think we’ve been abandoned’.”

Trowsdale said seafarers had previously waited to be owed nine or 10 months’ wages before reporting their abandonment, but use of social media and increased awareness is making seafarers more confident.

He said in many cases of abandonment the ITF dealt with, the flag state simply didn’t respond at all.

“They’re just not standing up to their responsibilities, and I think if there was some mechanism that forced them to do so, we should see abandonment go down. But at the moment, while those flags are able to act with impunity, nothing’s going to change in the short term.”

International Maritime Organization director of legal affairs and external relations Dorota Lost-Sieminska said the IMO had continued to highlight this problem and talk to flag states “to really ensure that they respect their obligations as flag states”.

She said some flag states “lack resources and lack mechanisms to perform their obligations”, and added the IMO was working with those registries and seafarer-providing states to ensure responsibilities are met.

Trowsdale refuted this argument, pointing out that many of the worst-performing registries are relatively modest in size and are not run out of the countries they represent, but rather nations with developed economies.

Awareness could only take you so far, he said.

“Naming and shaming is not working because we do name and shame regularly,” he told Lloyd’s List.

“We name and shame companies that are abandonment specialists, if you like, and everybody wrings their hands and says: ‘This is a bad state of affairs’. But what’s changing? The numbers should be going down, not up.”

Human Rights at Sea International executive director David Hammond said things would only change when “the levers that allow business to occur” got involved, by which he meant insurance and banking.

Opportunism, greed, and a “lack of being held to account” encouraged bad actors to continue abandoning seafarers, Hammond said.

“We work within an imperfect model and everybody knows it,” he said.