Founded in 2010, the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) has worked to improve sustainability across the maritime industry, carrying out work across a number of areas ranging from environmental (decarbonisation), to social (seafarers’ rights) to governance issues (responsible and safe ship recycling) across the shipping sector.

In late 2020, the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) and the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) announced their intent to develop an industry Code of Conduct on seafarers’ rights and welfare, focused on addressing systemic human and labour rights risks for seafarers worldwide. The Code of Conduct and Self-assessment questionnaire, developed in collaboration with the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights and RightShip, subsequently launched with a public webinar on 19 October 2021.

The Delivering on seafarers’ rights Code of Conduct and Self-assessment questionnaire aim to increase awareness among shipowners, operators, charterers and cargo owners of crew welfare responsibilities, and to enable charterers and cargo owners to strengthen their due diligence and make informed decisions. Intended as a tool to facilitate understanding and dialogue, the Self-assessment questionnaire could also be used by organisations looking to identify areas of improvement, fill gaps where found, and/or set a benchmark against which to measure progress.

The RightShip Crew Welfare Tool provides one way for companies to fill out and self-assess against the Self-assessment questionnaire, which is additionally available as a PDF on the SSI website and which we encourage companies to share publicly via, for example, their annual reports.

SSI is an organisation built on partnering and collaborating with others, with the understanding that no single company, individual, or initiative can fully tackle and resolve the sustainability issues faced by the maritime industry. When developing the Code of Conduct, it has always been clear that this is one tool of many; one way to raise awareness of the human and labour rights obligations of shipowners, operators, managers and charterers in the shipping sector.

The tools launched in October 2021 are not intended to be a one-time snapshot or trigger overnight change, but rather to provide a shared baseline for the industry and for individual companies to understand and take action across the scope of their seafarers’ rights and welfare obligations. Ultimately, we hope this work will increase accountability and enable demonstrable progress over time with the goal of securing lasting and positive change for seafarers.

SSI will continue to engage in dialogue with all stakeholders working to ensure that seafarers’ rights are protected and respected across the maritime industry.

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