Delivering on Seafarers' Rights 2026 Progress Report

Five years ago, the Delivering on Seafarers' Rights Code of Conduct set out what responsible practice in seafarers' rights should look like. This 2026 progress report, published by IHRB together with The Mission to Seafarers, the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, RightShip, the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) and TURTLE, draws on five years of implementation data to show what has changed for seafarers, and where change is still needed.

Since 2021, more than 1,000 companies have taken part in RightShip's Crew Welfare Self-Assessment (CWSA) (which allows ship operators to assess how they measure against the Code of Conduct), covering over 13,000 vessels and roughly 300,000 seafarers. Data shows some promising signs: participation has broadened beyond the largest operators, and for many companies, seafarer welfare has become an ongoing management priority rather than a one-off exercise.

Alongside the company data, two surveys commissioned specifically for this report — a TURTLE survey of 892 seafarers and workshops run with The Mission to Seafarers in the Philippines — provide a separate, direct perspective from seafarers themselves. The data from these surveys is less promising. While seafarers working for the leading companies are likely to have a different experience to those working in the wider industry, their feedback shows there is unfinished business on some fundamentals, which are documented in this report.

The next five years must therefore be about scaling good practice across more of the global fleet.

The Delivering on Seafarers' Rights Code of Conduct was published in October 2021 by IHRB, the Sustainable Shipping Initiative and the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights. It reinforces compliance with the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) while going further — addressing rights the MLC does not adequately enforce in practice, such as hours of rest, recruitment fees and grievance access, and setting expectations in areas the MLC does not yet reach, including mental health, psychological safety, inclusion and welfare infrastructure.

The Code is supplemented by a practical self-assessment questionnaire, a new version of which is hosted electronically via RightShip's Crew Welfare Self-Assessment Tool, which helps shipowners and operators track their progress against the Code's eight chapters.

This five-year report brings together CWSA company data, the 2026 TURTLE seafarer survey, Mission to Seafarers workshop discussions, and Marine Benefits' Re:fresh Global 2024 study. These evidence bases are kept separate and are not used to validate or contradict one another; together they offer a fuller picture of developing company practice and ongoing seafarer priorities.