A hybrid seminar on “Business Integrity and Anti-Corruption-Imperatives and Way Forward in the Maritime Industry”, was held on 17^th June by IME(I) Mumbai Branch jointly with CMMI. The objective of the seminar was to apprise industry stakeholders about Corruption & related practices in the maritime sector, how to deal with them, and the working of the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network. (MACN).

Capt KV Pradhan, Deputy Master, CMMI, extended a warm welcome to all the attendees and briefed them about the topic. Capt Pradhan also expressed his gratitude to Mr Vijay Arora, Managing Director, Indian Register of Shipping, and Mr VK Jain, President, IME(I) for marking their presence at the event. He mentioned that everyone from the ship’s Captain to the Owner is exposed to corruption as the primary problem has always been that certain authorities indulge in corrupt practices that must be dealt with. Further, he emphasized the fact that MACN has been in place that raises consciousness of the challenges that are being faced in implementing anti-corruption principles; sharing best practices; and requiring training tools for various seafarers.

Later, he invited Mr SM Rai, Senior fellow of IMEI to take over as moderator and the event further.

Mr. Rai mentioned that Corruption is widely prevalent in society and is not that has not been heard but the role of MACN and measures to be taken to curb same would be interesting to hear from the speakers. While introducing, he said we are privileged to have Mr Deepak Shetty, who retired in the highest rank of Secretary to the govt of India and served our sector, as Director-General of Shipping to be the keynote speaker for the day. He is the Senior adviser (India) to the MACN, Copenhagen.

Mr Rai applauded & introduced other speakers of the event, Capt MP Bhasin, Chairman of Maritime Association of Shipowners Shipmanagers and Agents (MASSA); Mr Anil Devli, CEO of the Indian National Shipowners Association and Dr Sanjay Bhavnani, Director and CEO of MMS Maritime India Pvt. Ltd. Mr Rai then urged Mr Shetty to share his views on the MACN and corruption in Maritime Industry.

Mr Shetty indicated that we are all familiar with the United Nations’ special development goals. For instance, if we look at goal number 16 and more explicitly, we are aware, that there are 17 goals and about 162 targets under them cumulatively. But if we zero down on goal number 16 and get down specifically to target 16.5, it expressly emphasizes that creating a welfare-oriented society across the globe is crucial, and that is the advocacy of no less than the United Nations, which has 193 member nations around the world. So, the pitch that the UN is making, courtesy of the 16.5 targets of goal 16 of the STG, is that if the world ought to be and this is a normative objective, this is what it is in terms of moral faith. The UN is trying to bring persuasive value to this. So, it is advocating that we need to get there.

Further speaking of MACN’s new initiative – GPIP (Global port integrity program), Mr Shetty confirmed that a risk analysis of all the incidents arising out of reports coming in from masters and crew are taken into consideration by MACN. MACN have applied risk management tools and arrived at a matrix in terms of which 1189 ports globally in as many as 149 maritime nations have been ranked inter se in terms of an integrity index.

INSA CEO Mr Devli cited that it’s been a few years now since the journey of MACN commenced. The objective of this is for us to mutually get together and fight corruption. Corruption is not necessarily only maritime corruption, but corruption in everything that we do. He had a strong belief that if we decide to prevent being corrupt in any activity; it would be very comfortable to be able to push that same philosophy in our industry and the jobs that we do. He also assured that INSA is working to confront all the concerns associated with corruption and agreed to the suggestions that the matter is taken up at the National Shipping Board level.

Capt Bhasin said, “How many of you sitting here knew about MACN?” except for the companies that were the signatories. He said the first take is that awareness is the main tool where we need such kind of seminar or webinar on a much larger scale, across all parts of India. The second take for me is confidence-building which needs to be spread across the Maritime spectrum by MACN by sharing case studies and/or some data on their success at various countries/ports. MACN is growing into a worldwide Maritime anti-corruption organisation. He said there is full support to MACN from MASSA as many MASSA member lines are already members of MACN.  Anti-corruption work needs to be seen by shipping companies, seafarers, port workers, government officials, donors, and members of the public in every place that we are working. So, for MACN to have a presence in all maritime sectors, I would also like to state that CMMI and IMEI jointly doing this seminar is a very good initiative”.

Lastly, Dr Bhavnani gave a PowerPoint presentation on corruption in Maritime Industry and mentioned that we are discussing maritime corruption and all of us know that the shipping industry has been prone to widespread corruption over the years. Due to its isolated nature, it faces more corruption disputes than most other industries. He particularly highlighted the sailing staff and the trauma and embarrassment they face onboard while facing many corrupt practices and demands. He however was very positive that if handled well these practices can be corrected with the role and help of MACN.

Thereafter Mr Rai & Mr Sanjeev Mehra (Secretary, IME Mumbai Branch) took on a Q&A session wherein the questions from the audience and on hybrid mode were addressed by the respective speakers of the event.

In the end, as a token of appreciation, all the speakers were presented with Mementoes by Mr Jain and Capt Pradhan.

The seminar concluded with a vote of thanks by Mr Jain, President of the Institute of Marine Engineers(I).

Marex Media