V.Ships joins the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network

Membership of MACN provides us the opportunity to continuously improve our existing anti-corruption controls by having access to the latest best practice and insights from other members. The network fosters an environment of collective sharing and learning with members working together to develop sustainable solutions.

As a member we agree to align our activities to the seven principles of MACN, which are seen to be critical in stamping out corruption. These include:

• Creating and maintaining compliance programmes, supported by business leaders and a network of empowered officers to implement activities
• Clearly articulated policies and procedures, which address the risks of our business and provide explicit guidance to employees on how to deal with situations
• Regular assessment of external and internal corruption risks and document findings
• Training of and communication to employees and third parties to ensure awareness of policies and procedures with a record of all training activities
• Implementation of monitoring and controls to prevent and detect incidents of corruption
• Ensuring employees understand their responsibility in speaking up against such acts of corruption and making it easy for them to raise concerns
• Applying due diligence in how we manage our business relationships, ensuring third parties and business partners are committed to anti-bribery.

In addition to the principles, MACN operates an anonymous incident reporting system, which allows for analysis to determine potential areas and themes for discussion and collective action. The system provides members with a monthly report, which we can then use internally to ensure engagement with our crews as well as adapting policies and procedures with the latest intelligence.

“Membership of MACN provides us with an increased level of information and support to fight corruption,” says Mike Bradshaw, V.Ships Compliance Director.

“The aims of MACN align with our own values and will serve to assure clients that we take honesty and transparency seriously. And having access to a monthly feed of data on incidents helps us to set our anti-corruption agenda while being in a position to respond rapidly to changing circumstances,” he adds.