Seafarers from the Philippines and Indonesia will continue to be paid lower wages than their Dutch counterparts, despite the practice being described as a “relic of colonial times”, the government has decided.

Currently seafarers employed by Dutch shipowners can be paid according to the cost of living in their home country, and that means sharply lower salaries.

Last November, the Equal Justice Equal Pay Foundation launched a legal campaign to improve the pay of foreign workers, saying they are often paid less than half of what their colleagues earn.

But infrastructure minister Vincent Karremans has now told MPs the government backs the current system, in which seafarers are paid depending on where they live, saying a change would hit shipping companies hard and would “weaken” the maritime and port sector across the board.

Researchers estimate 50% to 70% of ships would stop sailing under the Dutch flag if they were forced to end discriminatory pay deals, he said.

Frank Peters from law firm Rubicon Impact and Litigation, which is acting for the foundation in the mass claim, has described the government’s decision as “incomprehensible”.

“The reality for Indonesian and Filipino seafarers on board Dutch ships is that they work longer hours than their European colleagues, earn less than half the hourly rate and face structural discrimination based on their race or nationality,” he said.

Around 100 Dutch crew stranded near the Strait of Hormuz have also been paid “danger money”,  for their time spent at sea in a war zone, but foreign workers have not been awarded any extra pay.

According to KVNR figures, the Dutch shipping sector currently employs 8,608 Filipinos, 5,566 Dutch nationals and 2,290 Indonesians.

Last August, the Dutch human rights council said that two Dutch shipping companies were guilty of unlawful discrimination because they were paying “significantly less” to their Asian workers.