Trader Trafigura has taken a new step in shipping by embracing the seafaring community.
The Trafigura Foundation, which provides funding for vulnerable communities worldwide, has given a six-figure grant to the International Seafarers' Welfare and Assistance Network (Iswan).
The cash has been dedicated to improving the not-for-profit organisation’s open-all-hours multilingual helpline ‘SeafarerHelp’, which provides a contact point and emergency funds to seafarers suffering difficulties.
A Trafigura spokeswoman says the move has generated widespread enthusiasm among its staff. She says it is the first time the foundation has given support to a shipping organisation.
Iswan says the funds will help it buy a new customer relationship management system that will improve its service and enable data monitoring of seafarers in need.
The network says the collaboration with the Trafigura Foundation will also help its Seafarers Emergency and Piracy Survivors Family funds. The alliance will initally last 12 months, with the intention to extend this.
The Trafigura Foundation has donated $48m since 2007. This year, it launched a new strategy to support social entrepreneurship and clean and safe supply chains.
