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Since 1 January 2026, the seafarer minimum wage set by the ILO is USD 690 per month, basic, for an able seafarer. The number comes from the ILO Joint Maritime Commission, the body behind what the ILO describes as the only internationally agreed minimum wage for a single profession: ours. Two more steps are already agreed. USD 704 follows in 2027, USD 715 in 2028.
One number, and it decides a lot at the gangway. Manning agents quote it. Collective agreements build on it. A contract that quietly sits below it costs an AB real money, month after month, for the length of a nine-month contract.
Below: where the number is made, what it hides behind wording, and what to do when your payslip sits under it.
How the seafarer minimum wage is made
The figure is not set by a government. It is negotiated. Shipowner representatives, coordinated by the International Chamber of Shipping, sit across the table from seafarer representatives, coordinated by the ITF, at the Subcommittee on Wages of Seafarers of the ILO Joint Maritime Commission. The last round took place in Geneva on 14 and 15 April 2025. Two days of bargaining. One resolution. Three wage steps.
- USD 673 per month: the previous floor, in force since 1 January 2025.
- USD 690 per month: in force since 1 January 2026.
- USD 704 per month: from 1 January 2027.
- USD 715 per month: from 1 January 2028.
Behind the bargaining sits a formula the parties adopted in 1991. It tracks consumer price changes and three-month average exchange rates across major seafarer supply countries, so the floor keeps some connection to what a month of wages actually buys at home in Manila or Mumbai. The ITF dates the mechanism back to 1958 and calls shipping the only industry with a formally recognized global minimum wage. No other trade has one.
The April 2025 resolution went to the 355th Session of the ILO Governing Body in November 2025 for approval. That procedural step matters less at the gangway than this: both sides of the industry signed the numbers, and the ITF builds its collective agreements on top of them.
Where the floor binds, and where it does not
MLC 2006 carries the figure as guidance. Guideline B2.2.4 says the basic pay for a calendar month of service for an able seafarer should not be less than the amount the Joint Maritime Commission sets. The ITF uses the same figure as its reference floor, and ITF-approved collective agreements start above it.
Strictly speaking, a guideline is not a hard rule. Some flag states write the figure into law, others do not. That is exactly why the wage clause in your own SEA matters so much: what you can enforce later is what is written there, checked against your rank and the CBA named in the contract. Port state control officers read it the same way.
Basic, overtime, leave, consolidated: four words that decide your payslip
Basic means basic. The 690 does not include overtime, leave pay, or allowances. MLC 2006 Guideline B2.2.2 says overtime should be paid at no less than 1.25 times the basic hourly rate, and it builds that hourly rate on normal working hours of no more than eight per day. On a properly run ship, total monthly earnings for an AB end up well above the basic figure.
Overtime lives or dies on records. MLC guidance expects overtime hours to be recorded on board and endorsed by the seafarer at regular intervals. If the bosun hands out a Saturday of cargo hold cleaning and nobody writes the hours down, that money is gone. Sign your overtime sheet only when it matches your own count.
Leave pay is the third block. Paid annual leave accrues at a minimum of 2.5 calendar days per month of service under MLC Standard A2.4. Leave pay belongs on top of the basic wage, not buried inside it.
Then there is the consolidated wage. MLC Guideline B2.2.1 defines it as a wage that folds basic pay and other pay-related benefits into one figure, sometimes including all overtime. That construction is permitted, with a condition: the agreement should spell out what the figure covers, including the hours of work it is meant to buy. Watch the wording "all inclusive". A contract offering "690 all inclusive" is a much worse deal than 690 basic plus overtime plus leave. Same number on paper. Very different money at sign-off.
Three tricks that make a low wage look legal
Wage clauses rarely say "we pay under the floor". They dress it up. Three patterns come up again and again in the contracts crew send us and in the cases ITF inspectors publish.
The double contract. One SEA with clean numbers for the port state control officer, a second one, signed at the agency, with the real figures. The ITF has warned about double bookkeeping on substandard ships for years. If you are asked to sign two versions of your contract, the good one is not the one you will be paid under. Keep a copy of everything you sign, on your phone, before you hand the papers back.
The currency game. The wage annex says USD, the payment arrives in another currency at a rate the office picked. MLC Standard A2.2 speaks plainly here: where allotments and payments involve currency exchange, the rate must not be unfavourable to the seafarer, at prevailing market rates or official published rates. A cook who loses a few percent every month to an invented exchange rate is being underpaid, just quietly.
The deduction column. Victualling, "administration", guarantee deposits, joining fees clawed back from the first months of pay. MLC Standard A2.2 requires a monthly account of wages showing any deductions, and deductions with no legal or CBA basis do not belong there. Recruitment costs sit under their own ban, which is a story of its own further down.
ITF and CBA wages: the floor is not the market
The ILO figure is a floor for one rank, the AB. It is not the going rate. ITF-negotiated collective agreements, such as the TCC and IBF agreements that cover large parts of the international fleet, carry full wage tables per rank, from wiper and OS up through bosun, fitter and cook, all built above the ILO floor. The ITF publishes its current agreements and wage scales on itfseafarers.org.
So the question at the agency desk is not only how much, but under which agreement. A ship covered by an ITF-approved CBA gives you a named wage table, a defined overtime rate, and a union behind the numbers. A ship without a CBA gives you whatever the SEA says, and nothing else. Cruise ships are their own case again, with service charge and gratuity systems layered over basic pay; how MLC wage rights work in the hotel and marine departments is covered in our guide to cruise ship crew contracts under the MLC.
Free crew appSeafarer Contract CheckCheck your contract clause by clause against MLC 2006 and flag state regulations. The check is free. On iPhone, Android or in the browser.
Reading the wage clause in your SEA
Sign-on day at the manning agency. A stack of paper, a flight the same evening, the next candidate waiting for the desk. This is the worst possible moment to read a wage clause for the first time, and it is exactly when most wage clauses get signed. MLC Standard A2.1 gives you the right to examine the agreement and seek advice before you sign. Use it, even if the recruiter sighs.
Take the wage annex of your SEA and look for five things.
- A basic monthly wage, stated as a number, for your rank.
- An overtime rate, and whether hours beyond the fixed monthly overtime are paid extra.
- Leave pay: at least 2.5 days per month, and not "included" in the basic.
- An allotment clause, so part of the wage reaches your family at home while you are on board. MLC Standard A2.2 obliges the shipowner to provide a way to send earnings home.
- The CBA, if one is named: which agreement, which version, and whether its wage table matches the annex you are signing.
Silence counts too. A contract that names no basic wage, or hides it inside a lump sum, fails MLC Standard A2.2, which requires wages paid at least monthly with a monthly account of what was paid. A below-floor basic is rarely the only problem in a bad SEA; the same contracts tend to carry the other warning signs we list in Seafarer Employment Agreement Red Flags.
The wage floor also has a sibling rule at the start of the chain: recruitment must be free for the seafarer. If an agency charged you for the job that pays this wage, read Manning Agency Fees: What They Can Charge You, and What They Cannot.
If you want the full clause by clause picture, run the contract through our free MLC Contract Check. Upload the SEA, pick your flag state, and you get a color-coded report against MLC 2006 and the ITF benchmarks in about a minute. No account needed. How to use the MLC Contract Check walks through a report line by line.
If your pay is below the floor
Before signing: ask the agent to state the basic wage in writing and compare it to the 2026 figure. An agent who will not put the number in an email is telling you something. Walk, or at least ask why the vacancy needs to hide its wage.
Already on board: keep every monthly wage account, every hour sheet, and a copy of your signed SEA. Then use the on-board complaint procedure under MLC Regulation 5.1.5. Every MLC ship must have one, usually starting with your head of department or the master, and the Convention prohibits any victimization of a seafarer for filing a complaint. Put the shortfall in writing with your own numbers next to the payslip numbers.
If the ship does not fix it, the chain continues outward. The flag state administration handles complaints against ships flying its flag. In port, MLC Regulation 5.2.2 gives you an onshore complaint route to the port state control officer, and an ITF inspector in port can board and take up a wage claim directly; recovering owed wages is the core of their casework. Unpaid or underpaid wages are the most actionable complaint there is, and both flag and port state treat them as priority cases. If your ship flies the Panama flag, the exact addresses and steps are in our Panama flag complaint guide.
Two months unpaid is a hard line. Under MLC Standard A2.5.2, a shipowner who fails to pay contractual wages for at least two months counts as having abandoned the crew. That triggers the ship's financial security system: direct claims for up to four months of outstanding wages against the provider named on the certificate that must be posted on board. Photograph that certificate at sign-on, the same way you photograph your cabin and your lifejacket stowage. You will probably never need it. The crews of abandoned ships thought the same.
Source note
Figures and dates in this article come from the ILO announcement of the April 2025 Subcommittee agreement, the ILO meeting page of the Subcommittee on Wages of Seafarers, the ITF announcement of the new global minimum wage and the ITF wages resource page. Convention references are to MLC 2006 as amended: Standards A2.1, A2.2, A2.4 and A2.5.2, Regulations 5.1.5 and 5.2.2, and Guidelines B2.2.1 to B2.2.4. The wage rubric of our contract checker uses the same figures. This article is editorial context written for crew. It is not legal advice.
FAQ
Is USD 690 my total monthly salary?
No. It is the minimum basic wage for an able seafarer. Overtime, leave pay and allowances come on top. Total earnings for an AB under a decent agreement are clearly higher.
Who sets the seafarer minimum wage?
Shipowner and seafarer representatives negotiate it at the Subcommittee on Wages of Seafarers of the ILO Joint Maritime Commission. The April 2025 meeting in Geneva set USD 690 for 2026, USD 704 for 2027 and USD 715 for 2028.
Does the floor apply on every ship?
Not automatically. It binds where a flag state has written it into law or where a CBA adopts it. On other ships it is the recognized reference the ITF and port state inspectors work with. Your enforceable number is the one in your signed SEA.
My rank is not AB. What is my floor?
The ILO publishes the figure for the AB rank only. Other ranks scale from it through the CBA wage tables. Check the wage annex for your rank and compare it against the CBA named in your contract.
What is a consolidated wage?
One monthly figure that folds basic pay and other elements, often all overtime, into a single amount. MLC guidance accepts it only when the agreement states what the figure covers, including the hours of work it buys. Compare the basic component, not the headline number, against the ILO floor.
What if my basic wage is below the floor?
Before signing: ask the agent to state the basic wage in writing and compare it to the 2026 figure. Already on board: keep your wage statements, note the shortfall, and use the on-board complaint procedure under MLC Regulation 5.1.5. If that fails, complain to the flag state, the port state control officer, or an ITF inspector in port.
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