This volume offers a systematic account of the effects of globalization on the shipping industry and seafarers' lives. The seafarers' labour market is changing rapidly and this study discusses the challenges encountered in recruitment practices, trade unions and collective bargaining, as well as training, certification and fraudulent certification. Wages, contracts, and tours of duty are also investigated, and the book includes in-depth treatment of seafarer safety and hazard exposure. Innovations such as automated engine rooms and the global maritime distress and safety system, the internationalization of ship registrations, multinational crewing and reductions in crewing levels, and the rise in ship management companies have had a prof...