The International Maritime Employers’ Council (IMEC) is the only international employers’ organisation dedicated to maritime industrial relations. We operate from offices in Hampshire, UK and Manila, Philippines and represent over 250 shipping companies located all over the world. Our members are individual shipping companies, both owners and managers, large and small, operating all types of ships including dry bulk, container, cruise liners, livestock carriers, reefers and tankers. Together they operate more than 12,000 vessels registered in more than 60 different countries and employ in excess of 300,000 seafarers of over 70 different nationalities.

In the last 20 years the interests and activities of IMEC members have expanded to cover a wider range of labour supplying countries and to the negotiation of international wage rates. IMEC membership has increased rapidly, with over 250 member organisations as of July 2019. IMEC co-ordinates the views of its members and represents them in negotiations over wages and conditions of employment for seafarers.

We provide advice to members on all aspects of maritime human resources, including the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 and developments at the International Labour Organization. We are also involved in the support of seafarers’ welfare and are represented on industry roundtables in many key areas including piracy and criminalisation.
IMEC runs a cadet training program on behalf of its members at the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP), in the Philippines.