MLC 2026 amendments explained: what every shipping company must know now

The Maritime Labour Convention is often called the Seafarers’ Bill of Rights. It sets the global floor for working and living conditions on ships and is now ratified by countries representing over 97% of world gross shipping tonnage. Every shipping company operating internationally must comply — and with the 2025 amendments representing a generational shift in what compliance requires, the window to get ahead is now.

This guide breaks down every major change, explains what it means in practice, and gives shipping companies a clear compliance roadmap.

What is the MLC and why do the 2025 amendments matter?

The Maritime Labour Convention, adopted in 2006 and entered into force in 2013, established enforceable minimum standards for seafarers across five broad areas: minimum requirements to work on a ship, employment conditions, accommodation and recreational facilities, health protection and medical care, and compliance and enforcement. It is the fourth pillar of international maritime regulation, sitting alongside SOLAS, MARPOL, and STCW.

Since 2013, the MLC has been amended several times — in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2022. But the 2025 amendments are widely considered the most significant expansion of seafarer rights since the original convention. They respond directly to the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, the growing body of evidence on seafarer mental health, and rising awareness of workplace violence and harassment at sea.

“These amendments are a welcome development but also a shocking reflection of the way that some seafarers are still treated.”

For shipping companies, this is not a distant regulatory curiosity. STCW amendments on harassment prevention training are already in force from January 2026. The 2025 MLC amendments themselves take effect in December 2027. Any company that waits for the enforcement date risks being caught unprepared when port state control inspectors begin checking compliance.

The six major changes in the MLC 2025 amendments

The 113th Session of the International Labour Conference, held in Geneva in June 2025, adopted a package of amendments that touch every major dimension of seafarer working life. Here is what changed and what it means for your company.

Amendment 1: Seafarers recognised as key workers

The recognition of seafarers as key workers is, in the words of Seafarers’ Rights International chief executive Deidre Fitzpatrick, “a very significant win.” It is the first time an international labour instrument has made such a designation.

What does this mean practically? Member states must now take active steps to ensure seafarers can access shore leave, repatriation, crew changes, and medical care ashore — without unnecessary immigration or administrative barriers. The COVID-19 pandemic, which left hundreds of thousands of seafarers stranded at sea for months beyond their contract end dates, was the direct catalyst for this amendment.

For shipping companies operating through Singapore, the Philippines, India, Hong Kong, Cyprus, and other major maritime hubs, this amendment matters because it places legal obligations on the governments of those states to facilitate your crew movements — and it places obligations on you to advocate for and facilitate those rights.

Amendment 2: Shore leave is now a legal right — not a privilege

Under the amended Standard A2.4.2, seafarers must be allowed ashore after arrival formalities are completed, unless there are serious public health, safety, security, or public order reasons. Critically, seafarers no longer need a visa or special permit for shore leave purposes.

If a port authority refuses shore leave, it must provide written reasons upon request. This introduces a transparency and accountability mechanism that did not previously exist in a binding form.

Evidence from the Mission to Seafarers’ Happiness Index shows why this matters: the Q4 2024 report recorded a drop in overall seafarer happiness from 7.16 to 6.91 out of 10, with restricted shore access identified as a principal cause of declining morale. Shore leave is not just a welfare issue — it is directly linked to the mental health, crew retention, and operational performance that shipping companies depend on.

Shore leave rights mean that seafarers will no longer need special permits to go ashore, provided basic port entry conditions are met. Denial of shore leave must be explained in writing.

Amendment 3: Anti-harassment and anti-violence — the biggest shift for training and HR

This is the amendment with the most immediate and far-reaching implications for shipping companies. The MLC now explicitly prohibits shipboard violence, harassment, sexual harassment, bullying, and sexual assault — aligned with ILO Convention No. 190 (Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019).

The amendments require member states to:

• ✓Enact legal prohibitions against shipboard violence, harassment, sexual harassment, bullying, and sexual assault
• ✓Require shipowners to adopt written policies to prevent and address all forms of harassment and violence
• ✓Establish safe, effective reporting mechanisms that protect complainants from retaliation
• ✓Extend these requirements to recruitment and placement services operating in their territory
• ✓Cooperate with other flag states, port states, and labour-supplying states during investigations into harassment incidents

Critically, a parallel STCW amendment has already created an immediate obligation: from January 2026, all seafarers completing entry-level certification or recertification must demonstrate competency in recognising, preventing, and responding to harassment situations. This was introduced via IMO Resolution MSC.560(108), amending STCW Code Table A-VI/1-4.

What this means for your Safety Management System

Your Safety Management System (SMS) must be updated to integrate anti-harassment and anti-violence requirements. This is not a soft HR initiative — it is a compliance requirement that port state control inspectors will expect to see documented, implemented, and trained to. The Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance (DMLC) Part II procedures must also be updated to reflect these new requirements.

Amendment 4: Repatriation cost obligations — what shipowners must now cover

The MLC has always included repatriation rights. The 2025 amendments sharpen those rights by specifying exactly what costs a shipowner must bear and by mandating that repatriation is carried out without discrimination.

Costs shipowners must cover

The non-discrimination requirement in Standard A2.5.1 means that seafarers must be repatriated without discrimination on any grounds — nationality, gender, religion, or flag state of the ship. This directly addresses historical cases where seafarers from certain countries faced different treatment during repatriation.

Amendment 5: Updated medical training and onboard medical standards

The 2025 amendments update the reference standard for onboard medical training and medical chest contents to the International Medical Guide for Seafarers and Fishers (First Edition, 2023). This is now the benchmark against which flag states will assess both training programmes and the contents of ships’ medical chests.

For passenger ship operators — who often maintain full medical facilities onboard — this requires an audit of medical supplies, training protocols, and staffing. For all other vessel types, the update signals that the quality bar for medical preparedness is rising, and that documentation of compliance with the new guide will be expected during MLC inspections.

Amendment 6: Complaint procedures and whistleblower protections

The amended Regulation 5.1 makes two significant changes to onboard complaint procedures. First, it adds “appropriate shore-side personnel” as an additional authority to whom seafarers can raise complaints — meaning crew members are no longer limited to reporting issues through the onboard chain of command. Second, the definition of “victimisation” is expanded to cover adverse actions taken against complainants, victims, witnesses, and whistleblowers — including in cases where a complaint turns out to be vexatious or made with malicious intent.

This is a meaningful change. Previously, a seafarer who raised a complaint that was ultimately dismissed could face retaliation with limited recourse. Under the new framework, any adverse action against someone who raised a complaint — even an unfounded one — constitutes victimisation and is prohibited.

Shipping companies must review their grievance and disciplinary procedures to ensure they capture this expanded definition. Shore-side HR teams and designated persons ashore must also be trained on the new complaint pathways.

The STCW link: what is already in force from January 2026

One aspect of this regulatory package that cannot be overlooked is the STCW amendment that preceded the MLC changes. IMO Resolution MSC.560(108), effective from 1 January 2026, amends the STCW Code Table A-VI/1-4 to add mandatory minimum standards of competence relating to the prevention of and response to violence and harassment — including sexual harassment, bullying, and sexual assault.

This means that from January 2026, every seafarer completing entry-level certification or recertification must demonstrate competency in these areas. Training centres must have developed curricula. Companies must verify that crew hold the updated certification. Crewing agencies must integrate this verification into recruitment procedures.

What the MLC 2025 amendments mean for seafarer mental health

It is worth stepping back to consider what this package of amendments means for seafarer mental health — because the connection is direct and significant.

Research consistently shows that maritime is one of the most mentally demanding industries in the world. Studies report that up to 65% of seafarers experience significant stress, 14–49% report depressive symptoms, and 30% feel persistently lonely or isolated. These numbers have remained stubbornly high despite years of industry attention.

The 2025 amendments attack several of the root causes of poor mental health at sea in a single legislative package:

• ✓Shore leave rights — access to shore leave is one of the strongest protective factors for seafarer mental health. Making it a legal right removes one major source of distress
• ✓Anti-harassment requirements — bullying, harassment, and violence are among the most damaging experiences a seafarer can face. Mandatory prevention policies and reporting mechanisms reduce their prevalence
• ✓Key-worker status — recognition as key workers reduces the institutional invisibility that many seafarers report as a source of psychological distress
• ✓Whistleblower protections — fear of retaliation suppresses reporting and leads to prolonged exposure to harmful situations. Expanded protections reduce this barrier

For shipping companies, integrating mental health awareness into MLC compliance is not just good ethics — it is good risk management. Crew with better mental health have fewer accidents, lower turnover, better decision-making, and stronger morale. Learn more about our seafarer wellbeing training programmes.

Compliance timeline: when do shipping companies need to act?

Your MLC 2025 compliance checklist

Based on the amendments and the guidance of leading maritime law firms, P&I clubs, and classification societies, here is the practical compliance checklist every shipping company needs to work through before December 2027 — and in several cases, immediately.

• 1Conduct a gap analysis now. Map your current SMS, DMLC, SEAs, and onboard policies against all six areas of the 2025 amendments. Identify where you are compliant, where you are partially compliant, and where you have gaps.
• 2Develop or update your anti-harassment and anti-violence policy. The policy must explicitly prohibit violence, harassment, sexual harassment, bullying, and sexual assault. It must cover conduct from recruitment through to the onboard complaint procedure, and it must be integrated into your SMS.
• 3Establish safe reporting mechanisms. Seafarers must be able to report incidents without fear of retaliation. The mechanism must now include access to shore-side personnel, not just the onboard chain of command.
• 4Verify STCW harassment prevention certification for all crew. From January 2026, this is a current compliance obligation. Your crewing agents must be checking for this certification during recruitment.
• 5Update DMLC Part II procedures. No new inspection items have been added to the DMLC, but your procedures within DMLC Part II must reflect the new requirements. This is an area flag state inspectors and port state control will check.
• 6Audit your repatriation policies and financial coverage. Confirm that your employment agreements and financial security arrangements cover all the cost categories now specified: travel, accommodation, meals, medical care, luggage, and (where applicable) wages.
• 7Review shore leave practices and seafarer communication. Confirm that your operational scheduling does not routinely prevent shore leave access. Inform crew of their rights in writing.
• 8Audit onboard medical chest and training against the 2023 International Medical Guide. Compare your current supplies and training syllabus. Document compliance for MLC inspection purposes.
• 9Train officers and HR teams on the expanded victimisation definition. Anyone involved in managing complaints or disciplinary matters must understand the new scope of protection for complainants and witnesses.
• 10Engage your flag state and P&I club. Flag states are implementing the amendments through national legislation. Understand how your flag state is transposing the requirements and what they will inspect for. Your P&I club will have updated guidance.

MLC 2025 and your location: what shipping hubs need to know

The MLC amendments apply globally, but different maritime hubs have specific implications depending on whether they are primarily flag states, port states, or labour-supplying states — and often all three.

Conclusion

The MLC 2025 amendments represent a genuine turning point in maritime labour standards. For the first time, seafarers are recognised as key workers under international law. Anti-harassment and anti-violence protections are now explicit, binding, and linked to a parallel STCW training obligation already in force. Shore leave is a right, not a privilege. Repatriation obligations are specified and non-discriminatory.

The enforcement date of December 2027 gives shipping companies time to prepare — but not to delay. The STCW training obligation is already here. Port state control inspectors across Singapore, Greece, Norway, and other major maritime hubs are already watching the industry’s response. And the shipping companies that implement these standards early will see the benefits in crew retention, operational safety, and a stronger compliance record before the deadline hits.

At Strive-High, we have spent over a decade helping maritime professionals and shipping companies navigate exactly these kinds of regulatory and cultural shifts. With more than 10,000 maritime professionals trained across 20+ countries, we understand what implementation looks like in practice — aboard ship and in your Singapore, Manila, Mumbai, Athens, or Oslo office.

If you would like to understand how the MLC 2025 amendments affect your specific fleet or crewing operation, contact our team for a consultation.