Waiting, Sailing, Returning: Mobility and Competitive Precarity in the Lives of Indonesian Seafarers

Abstract

ABSTRACT Indonesia is one of the world's largest providers of maritime labour, and its workers face situations of precarious labour and unstable mobility. This article examines how uncertainty and labour discipline affect the global maritime sector, focusing on the experiences of Indonesian seafarers during recruitment, shipboard work and temporary return. It is based on ethnographic research, including over 150 interviews with seafarers, recruitment agents, shipping company owners and NGO members in Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia. The research foregrounds the notion of competitive precarity to explain how an oversupply of labour, labour brokerage and intense competition affect individuals' employment, mobility and everyday life. Rather than only looking at inequalities and labour abuses on ships, this article demonstrates how discipline starts on land before seafarers even set sail, as they navigate complex hiring process, certification systems and evaluations that affect their future work. It argues that precarity acts as a mobility regime that controls labour movements, where the ability to move becomes a way to control people, shaping their compliance, career paths, life and labour experiences, and household decisions across connected sites.