Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Shipping Industry: A Disturbing Mechanism between Maritime Security Needs and Seafarers’ Welfare

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a fairly new philosophy to the shipping industry. The shipping industry, by its very nature, is the most globalised and highly regulated industry of all. Compared to land-based industries, the shipping industry has a long list of stakeholders in its supply chain. This creates many difficulties for the shipping industry when attempting to satisfy the punitive demands of all its stakeholders. The broad aims of this study are to see if the shipping industry’s CSR requirements with regard to seafarers’ welfare are met and how maritime security initiatives give seafarers a difficult time. The study used qualitative case study approach and it’s not part of any ongoing or past research. The results show that seafarers are very often criminalised in the name of maritime security for situations that are not their fault. They also reveal that the CSR schemes of many shipping companies are merely window- dressing. Seafarers, as a major stakeholder and an important working part of the shipping industry, are exposed to unnecessary risks and extra work for shareholders’ financial benefit. While the shipping industry attempts to improve its image through seafarers’ efforts, this extra workload is reflected neither in the seafarers’ contracts nor in their pay slips.