The Royal Association of Netherlands Shipowners (KVNR) has taken note of the letter recently sent by the lawyer representing the Equal Justice Equal Pay Foundation to a large number of Dutch shipping companies. This letter alleges unlawful unequal pay for Filipino and Indonesian seafarers serving on Dutch-flagged vessels and holds the addressed companies liable.
The claims refer to two rulings by the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights dated 18 August 2025. In these rulings, issued in two individual cases brought by seafarers from Indonesia and the Philippines, the Institute concluded that the longstanding international practice of determining seafarers’ pay based on the cost of living in their country of residence is not justified.
The KVNR has previously expressed its strong surprise at the non-binding ruling of the Institute and warned of the potential risks it poses to the international position of the Dutch shipping industry and the further erosion of a level playing field in global shipping.
The Equal Justice Equal Pay Foundation feels the case is justified as ‘Indonesian and Filipino seafarers working on Dutch-flagged ships were paid significantly less than their European colleagues, despite doing the same work. This is a clear case of discrimination. Dutch law guarantees equal pay for equal work.’ According to the organisation, the wages of these seafarers are on average sixty-65 per cent lower that those for European seafarers.
Also read: Dutch ruling questions global seafarer pay system
Country-of-residence principle
Shipping is, by its very nature, an international industry, explains the KVNR. Over the past decades, this has led to an increasingly internationalised labour market. Since seafarers live and work on board during their contracts and usually spend their leave in their home countries, an international system has emerged in which pay is based on the cost of living in the seafarer’s country of residence.
According to the KVNR, each country or monetary region has a different social structure, legal system, and tax regime. To maintain a fair system that avoids wage discrimination, the country of residence is therefore taken as the reference point – since the cost of living varies significantly between countries.
A comparable case was brought before the Equal Treatment Commission in 1997, the predecessor of the current Institute. At that time, the Commission agreed that the international pay structure was justified, particularly as it operates under the supervision of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Also read: Shipping organisations concerned about seafarer safety
Disruption of level playing field
The KVNR remains convinced that the application of the country-of-residence principle is still justified and that Dutch shipping companies apply this principle lawfully — just as their competitors in other countries do. Changing the way seafarers are paid just in the Netherlands would disrupt a level playing field compared to shipping companies in other countries.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management has commissioned a study into the potential impact of abandoning the country-of-residence principle on the entire Dutch maritime sector.
KVNR Director Annet Koster stated: ‘This study is expected to show how severely the entire maritime sector would be affected if the residence principle were to be abandoned. It is therefore crucial that we continue to oppose this, in cooperation with the wider maritime sector, to safeguard the future of maritime activity in our country and to present a united defence in this matter.’
Picture by Maxime Felder, Wikimedia Commons.
Also read: EU decides to recognise certification of Filipino seafarers
