Sailors to enjoy better working rights

China's ratification of the 2006 Maritime Labour Convention will improve conditions in the world's third-largest merchant fleet and attract more people into the industry. Peng Yining reports.

In 2001, when Zhao Changyou became a merchant sailor at age 25, the first job he was given was scrubbing the greasy floor of a cargo ship's engine room.

The noise was deafening, and the temperature was usually higher than 40 C. Away from his job, there was no bathroom in the cabin he shared with another sailor.