The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has published free guidance that aims to help shipowners tackle age discrimination onboard vessels.

Under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), flag states must ensure their regulations respect crew's fundamental right to be free from age discrimination while working at sea.

“Age discrimination is a form of unfair treatment and the age gap between employees in the workplace can now be as much as 50 years,” Natalie Shaw, director of employment affairs at the ICS, said in a release on Thursday.

“We are seeing a changing global workforce that is continuing to work longer, yet there are still many stereotypes associated with age that can play out onboard ship. This can affect not only older employees, but also the young who can suffer from age-related stereotypes at the other end of the spectrum."

The ICS said age discrimination can affect the physical and emotional health of employees, decrease motivation, increase sickness rates and be detrimental to teamwork.

Shaw said the ICS guidelines emphasise the importance of judging people on their performance or the quality of their job applications.

The document addresses both direct and indirect age discrimination and shows how this can be avoided with respect to recruitment, training, pay and promotion, as well as redundancy and retirement.

The ICS's 'Guidelines for Shipowners to Avoid Age Discrimination On Board Ships' — is free to access on the organisation's website here.