The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has released its annual report on the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) for 2025, which provides an overview of compliance with labor standards, investigations of complaints, initiatives to improve welfare, and enforcement activities conducted throughout the year.
The report analyzes the implementation of the Maritime Labour Convention in Australian waters and presents data for the period from 2021 to 2025, including trends in complaints, port state control (PSC) actions, flag state control (FSC) actions, serious injuries, fatalities, compliance enforcement actions, and case studies.
According to AMSA, the findings of the report will contribute to the development of the National Compliance Plan for 2026-2027, supporting future compliance priorities and inspection activities.
In 2025, AMSA received 169 complaints under the Maritime Labour Convention, a slight decrease from the 173 complaints recorded in 2024, continuing a gradual decline observed since the peak of COVID-19 in 2020.
Since the Convention came into force in August 2013, AMSA has received and processed 2,271 complaints under the MLC.
The report notes that the majority of complaints continue to come directly from seafarers, indicating an increasing awareness of their rights under the Maritime Labour Convention and trust in the complaint handling process in Australia.
As in previous years, the largest share of complaints was related to Section 2 – Conditions of Employment.
The report also notes that the number of complaints related to hours of work and rest increased in 2025 compared to the previous year.
Bulk carriers accounted for 99 complaints, representing nearly 59% of all complaints received in 2025.
When normalizing the number of complaints relative to vessel arrivals, container ships, oil tankers, and general cargo ships showed relatively higher complaint rates relative to fleet size.
The report also analyzes complaints by Australian states, vessel types, and flag states, identifying Liberia, Panama, and the Marshall Islands as the flags with the highest number of complaints, while the Isle of Man, the Bahamas, Greece, and Liberia recorded the highest complaint rates relative to vessel arrivals.
AMSA notes that investigations of complaints conducted in 2025 led to:
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