Odfjell is committed to the fight against bribery and corruption, and since December 9, 2017 – the World Anti-Corruption Day – we have been actively implementing Maritime Anti-corruption Network’s (MACN) "Say No" campaign on all our vessels.
“Corruption is wrong, it hurts businesses and it hurts communities. We should do everything we can to prevent it.”
Kristian Mørch, CEO
Around 10% of all global seaborne trade currently moves through the Suez Canal. The Canal has consistently been a hotspot for corruption issues, with Captains and crew facing regular demands for ‘facilitation payments’ so as to be granted passage or to receive routine services. To tackle challenges like this and reduce threats to the seafarers’ safety, MACN launched a dedicated "Say No" campaign for the Suez Canal.
The challenges of corruption are bigger than any one company can handle alone. The campaign is a true collective effort, with MACN member companies agreeing to reject demands by using a coordinated zero tolerance policy and on-board toolkits.
Odfjell runs this campaign globally – not only in Suez. To contribute to MACN’s statistics on bribery, all requests for facilitation payments worldwide are logged and reported. By the end of 2017, MACN had collected over 8,600 incidents on corrupt demands faced by seafarers globally.
Since its implementation, reports on the effectiveness of the “Say No”-campaign are very positive.
Facilitation payment requests, such as demands for cigarettes, and threats to the safety of both crew and vessel have decreased significantly.
Odfjell has been a member of the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) since 2013, and we established an Anti-corruption Council in 2012. An annual risk assessment on corruption is part of our corporate risk review program, as is a mandatory Anti-corruption e-learning course in our compliance management system.
A whistleblowing policy and procedure enable employees and other third parties to report serious suspected wrongdoings within Odfjell. Odfjell has established different channels for reporting concerns or violations outside of the regular reporting lines including a confidential and anonymous Reporting Hotline.
Anti-Corruption Policy Whistleblowing Policy
About MACN
Maritime Anti-corruption Network (MACN) is a global business network working towards the vision of a maritime industry free of corruption that enables fair trade to the benefit of society at large. MACN is comprised of vessel owning companies within the main sectors of the maritime industry and other companies in the maritime industry including cargo owners and service providers. Read more on maritime-acn.org.
