Maersk hits out at severe levels of corruption across maritime

Maersk hits out at severe levels of corruption across maritime
Sam Chambers February 15th, 2018 http://splash247.com/maersk-hits-severe-levels-corruption-across-maritime/

Maersk has publically hit out at the “severity of corruption in the maritime sector” and has called on greater cross-industry collaboration as well as help from governments to stamp out the plague of facilitation payments and extortion hitting shipping lines across the world.

In its just published sustainability report, Maersk noted: “[W]e operate in an environment where facilitation payments and extortion are common occurrences.”

The Danish shipping conglomerate has been working for a number of years to get towards a zero facilitation payments target.

Last year across Maersk Line’s owned ships it managed to reduce facilitation payments by 96%.

“Because of the level and severity of corruption in the maritime sector, a traditional internal compliance programme is not enough to protect the company and our employees. We must work with others in both our industry and governments,” Maersk stated in its sustainability report.

Cecilia Müller Torbrand, programme director at the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network, was quoted in the report as saying: “Eliminating corrupt practices in the maritime sector is necessary to create a safe working environment for seafarers and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. We will only succeed in achieving this vision through long term commitment and collaboration. A.P. Moller – Maersk’s leadership and contributions to this field provide inspiration to other members and replicable models.”