Romania currently has about 16,000 active seafarers, a number by approximately 2,000 lower than in 2020, and 7,000 of them will spend their winter holidays at sea, the Free Union of Seafarers (SLN) reported on Thursday.
Worldwide, the total number of active seafarers is over 1.8 million.
"Globally, there is a persistent shortage of officers in shipping (approximately 60,000 for 2025 and a shortage of over 90,000 is expected by 2030) amid increased demand for new transport capacities," according to a release issued by SLN.
The problems encountered by Romanian seafarers in 2025 mainly concerned repatriation, payment of salaries, but also an increased number of accidents on board caused by staff reductions, fatigue and stress.
"The problems reported to SLN were fewer in real percentages (-10%) but remain at a fairly high level: failure to pay salaries on time - 124 cases; timely repatriation - 201 cases; accidents and illnesses - 12 cases; failure to grant sick leave, compensation for accidents and deaths - 25 cases; other problems - 106 cases. Over 250,000 dollars was recovered for seafarers who encountered problems with non-payment of salaries or compensation", say SLN representatives.
At the same time, the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) Romania recouped, in 2025, over 500,000 dollars, money with which over 200 seafarers had not been paid.
"The negotiations of the labor contracts covered a larger number of ships (515 compared to 500 last year). The number of SLN members increased slightly in 2025 by 5% compared to 2024. The union has a good financial situation, which has given us the opportunity to focus mainly only on the support activity of our members, this is illustrated by the cases reported and resolved in a percentage of 100%", the SLN press release also states.
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