The Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN), which has gathered more than 110 companies working to tackle the issue, is to develop a Global Port Integrity Index to show where the problems are and where improvements are being made.
The integrity index will provide an overview and comparison of illicit demands in ports around the world based on first-hand data gathered from captains made through MACN’s Anonymous Incident Reporting Mechanism and validated by other sources. The organisation has collected over 28,000 reports of corruption in ports to date.
MACN executive director Cecilia Muller Torbrand said the index “will be instrumental in highlighting the need for further investments and initiatives addressing integrity challenges in ports to promote fair global trade”.
Torbrand said the project is in its early days and will take a couple of years to develop but the aim continues to be move away from confrontation with governments in countries where there are problems and instead generate positive dialogue.
“We have piloted this approach with ratings on a smaller scale in Nigeria and seen that a port index is a valuable tool both to draw the government’s attention and to illustrate where ports are working well and why. From an integrity standpoint, it is not only which ports are corrupt,” she said.
In depth surveys of MACN members show improvements since MACN was set up in 2011, Torbrand added.
She said the shipping industry is better prepared, captains trained and companies have set up compliance programmes. It means they now dare to stand up to corruption attempts, and that in turn helps achieve better support from authorities.
Torbrand said MACN is recognised outside shipping as an industry body that is really taking action, and cites a 90% decrease in corruption demands during inspection processes in Argentina.
Launch of the index comes as MACN also unveiled a partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark aiming to help to scale up collective activities in the major problem area of West Africa.
MACN has been active in Nigeria since 2013 and, in collaboration with an NGO recognised for improving business ethics in West Africa, worked to promote integrity and good governance in the country’s ports.
The network hopes the link with the Danish ministry can take its incident data to the next level and turn it into a powerful advocacy tool for opening up trade. It would like to work with other governments in that process.
