Maritime transport is the ‘invisible’ backbone that keeps the global economy moving on any given day, as has become obvious during the COVID-19 crisis. However, shipping and seafarers do not turn up in the public mind as a key sector, with key workers. It is important in this context to look into major issues concerning seafarers. This paper examines three of the major issues relating to the welfare of seafarers, including wages, social security benefits, and onboard and ashore welfare facilities and services. It is impossible to research all countries here, so this paper selects Greece – which is one of today’s primary shipping countries as for shipowning, as well as for global supply and demand for seafarers – to conduct an empirical case study. The entry into force of Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC), which probably is the most comprehensive convention governing maritime labour up to date, has had a significant impact on the world maritime industry. While the Convention aims to ensure fair competition and level-playing field for quality owners of ships, it is indisputable that it will increase shipowners’ operation cost in the first place. Despite involving more than 30,000 seafarers, Greece had not ratified MLC 2006 until 2013 when the Convention entered into force. Based on the existing knowledge and scholarship, and primary data collected in several phases of fieldwork, this paper critically examines the three major issues relating to the welfare of Greek seafarers. The main findings reveal that there is still a gap between the theoretical legal framework and the practical implementation in Greece. The paper explains the legal concepts regarding seafarer welfare matters in detail and collects the opinions from the industry. Such dilemmas are also common in other countries. These include possible delays and irregularities of wage payments, expensive and limited online communications and insufficient rest hours. Thus, the findings and suggestions revealed from this paper are of importance for the shipping industry and other states.

中文翻译：

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根据海事劳工公约调整海员福利：希腊的一个经验案例研究

海上运输是“无形”的骨干力量，它使全球经济在任何一天都可以运转，这在19世纪COVID危机期间已变得显而易见。但是，航运和海员并没有像关键工人那样成为公众关注的关键部门。在这种情况下，重要的是要研究与海员有关的重大问题。本文研究了与海员福利有关的三个主要问题，包括工资，社会保障福利以及船上和岸上福利设施和服务。在这里不可能对所有国家进行研究，因此本文选择希腊作为船东以及全球海员供求关系的主要船运国之一的希腊进行实证研究。2006年海事劳工公约（MLC）生效，它可能是迄今为止管理海事劳工的最全面的公约，对世界海事行业产生了重大影响。虽然《公约》旨在确保船舶质量所有人的公平竞争和公平竞争的环境，但毫无疑问，它首先会增加船东的运营成本。尽管有30,000多名海员参加，但希腊直到2013年《公约》生效时才批准2006年海事劳工公约。基于现有的知识和学术知识，以及在野外调查几个阶段中收集的主要数据，本文严格审查了与希腊海员福利有关的三个主要问题。主要发现表明，理论上的法律框架与希腊的实际执行之间仍然存在差距。本文详细解释了有关海员福利事务的法律概念，并收集了业界的意见。这种困境在其他国家也很普遍。这些包括可能的延误和不定期的工资支付，昂贵且有限的在线交流以及休息时间不足。因此，本文揭示的发现和建议对航运业和其他国家都具有重要意义。