New Delhi: It has been observed that many seafarers are falling victim to fraud, deception, and financial exploitation by unauthorized recruitment and placement agents under the pretext of offering jobs on foreign vessels. Taking serious note of this, the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) has issued a 10-point advisory.
The DGS advisory, a copy of which is with ETV Bharat, advises seafarers to avoid unauthorized agencies and to secure placement only through registered Recruitment and Placement Services License (RPSL) companies. The advisory states, “Due diligence should be exercised to avoid impersonation of registered RPSL holders and to regularly check the Master Checkers for maritime service updates.”
RPSL is a mandatory certification by the DGS for agencies recruiting Indian seafarers for jobs on ships, ensuring ethical conduct, seafarer welfare (such as repatriation), and compliance with MLC 2006 standards, requiring regular reporting to the DGS and imposing penalties for non-compliance.
Advice to Seafarers and their Parents
According to the 10-point advisory issued by the DGS, seafarers and their parents are advised to exercise extreme caution and verify the real-time status of any Recruitment and Placement Services License company before initiating any communication. The advisory states, “The Directorate General of Shipping has made available on its website a live and continuously updated system that shows whether an RPSL (Recruitment and Placement Service License) is valid, invalid, or temporarily blocked. It is crucial that seafarers only engage with valid RPSL companies. No interaction, document submission, acceptance of job offers, or financial transactions should be conducted with invalid or temporarily blocked RPSL companies, as this can expose seafarers to significant risks and leave them without regulatory protection.”
Victims face numerous difficulties
According to the advisory, seafarers recruited by unauthorized agencies commonly face problems such as lack of assistance during accidents, injuries, medical emergencies, and being stranded.
There is also no intervention in salary or compensation disputes. The advisory states that such unauthorized agencies evade responsibility in cases of seafarer deaths, including failing to arrange for repatriation of remains or compensation.
The DGS also faces jurisdictional limitations in cases involving unauthorized channels. The advisory states, “Maritime services obtained through unregistered agents are invalid and cannot be uploaded to the DGS e-governance system.”
India ranks third among seafarer-supplying countries
India has a significant number of seafarers, with an estimated 2.85 to 3 lakh active seafarers, of whom at least 80 percent are employed on foreign-flagged vessels.
According to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, India now supplies 12 percent of the world’s seafarers and ranks third among the countries that supply the most seafarers to the global maritime industry. Fraudulent recruitment processes are harming the maritime sector.
Director General of Shipping, Shyam Jagannathan, said, “The Indian Maritime Administration is working towards achieving the key performance indicators outlined in the Maritime India Vision 2030 and Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, which aim to increase the country’s contribution to the global pool of seafarers from the current 12 percent to 20 percent.”
According to Jagannathan, fraudulent recruitment processes are causing significant damage to the global maritime sector and pose a major threat to the safety and well-being of the seafarers on whom the shipping industry depends.
Jagannathan said, “The Directorate General of Shipping is actively working to address this issue in India. This includes taking action against recruitment and placement service providers who demand fraudulent service charges and conducting awareness campaigns to educate seafarers about the risks involved.”
He further explained that as part of these efforts, since 2017, the DG Shipping has been collaborating with the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) on a campaign to discourage Indian seafarers from signing up with unregistered agencies and to raise awareness about the best practices for finding safe employment at sea.
