Advance and allotment

An advance is a payment of wages to a seafarer ahead of the normal pay date, and an allotment is a fixed portion of wages remitted directly to a nominated family member or bank account ashore while the seafarer is on board. MLC 2006 Standard A2.2 requires shipowners to operate an allotment system so seafarers can send earnings home by bank transfer at regular intervals, with any charge kept reasonable and the exchange rate not unfavorable to the seafarer. The crew manager records both in the wages account and the monthly portage bill. Excessive advances that leave a seafarer in debt to the manning agency are a recruitment-fee abuse flag under MLC 1.4.