Negotiators representing ship owners and crews on merchant vessels agreed to a salary freeze after charter rates fell on weaker world trade and an expanding fleet.

Pay changes “will be put on hold” until a working group reviews the present wage system, negotiators in the International Bargaining Forum said in a joint statement distributed yesterday by the Seafarers International Union.

“This outcome represents a pragmatic reaction to a very difficult economic situation affecting the shipping industry,” Captain T. Manji, chairman of the Joint Negotiating Group, representing employers, said in the statement. “None of the various problems facing us were easy to deal with.”

Supertankers delivering the world’s crude by sea have earned less than owners need to pay crew, insurance, repairs and other running costs several times this year, according to data from the London-based Baltic Exchange. Earnings from capesize coal and iron-ore transporters declined 70 percent since June 3.

Pay deals are negotiated annually between the International Transport Workers’ Federation, a labor union for sailors, and the Joint Negotiating Group. The accords are only binding for companies that sign up to them. (Bloomberg)