Suez Canal Authority has confirmed that it will not tolerate improper behaviours or misconducts and encourages the shipping industry to stand against corruption.
The Suez Canal Authority, in a letter to the IMB, has made clear its commitment to upholding the Egyptian National Anti-Corruption Strategy confirming that it will not tolerate improper behaviour or misconduct which might discredit or undermine its reputation.
Additionally, the Suez Canal Authority encourages the shipping industry to play its part and to refuse demands for facilitation payments or gifts made by persons boarding ships to provide services to them.
The North of England P&I Association supports this public statement by the SCA and hopes that other organizations will as well adopt such a position and provide a similar route to allow proper notification and investigation of incidents.
Recently, the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) has released the results and lessons learned from 10 years of collecting data of corrupt demands in maritime trade. Data shows extent of a global problem Across the world’s ports, corrupt demands are most commonly made for cigarettes, alcohol, and cash. While multiple actors are reportedly involved in making corrupt demands, the consequence of rejecting such demands is similar across the world’s ports – delay of the vessel, which has knock-on detrimental effects.
In July 2021, MACN, representing 150 companies from across shipping, has called the industry to help in mapping out corruption hotspots in the port and maritime sector.
MACN has also advised that Nigeria is stepping up its efforts against anti-corruption at ports and terminals.