The Maritime Anti-Corruption Network, a global business network of over 110 companies working together to tackle corruption in the maritime industry, on Thursday announced a new partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark to launch the first-ever “Global Port Integrity Index” and to scale up its collective action activities in West Africa.

The Global Port Integrity Index will provide an overview and comparison of illicit demands in ports around the world. It will be based on first-hand data gathered from captains calling port around the world through MACN’s Anonymous Incident Reporting Mechanism. To date, MACN has collected over 28,000 reports of corruption in ports.

“Through the support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, MACN can take our world-leading incident data to the next level and turn it into a powerful advocacy tool,” said Cecilia Müller Torbrand, executive director of MACN, in a statement. “This index will be instrumental in highlighting the need for further investments and initiatives addressing integrity challenges in ports to promote fair global trade.”

The partnership with MOFA will also allow MACN to expand its collective action program in West Africa and to deepen its current engagement in the region. MACN has been active in Nigeria since 2011 and has, in collaboration with the Convention on Business Integrity—an internationally recognized NGO specializing in ethics and anti-corruption in West Africa—worked to promote integrity and good governance in the port sector in Nigeria. Actions to date have included the training of over 1,000 government officials in the ports of Lagos, Calabar, Onne, and Port-Harcourt, the MACN said.

Through the new project, MACN will work with the international and local maritime industry and with key government authorities in Nigeria to improve the business climate and reduce corruption in the port and maritime sector.

“Increasing transparency and ease of doing business in the port and maritime sector is a political priority of the Nigerian government, and a network like MACN has a key role to play in enabling change that is both business-friendly and that promotes integrity and business ethics,” stated Soji Apampa, executive director and co-founder of the Convention on Business Integrity. “The members of MACN have significant commercial buying power when acting collectively. This is important for incentivizing local stakeholder from both the public and private sector to engage with us and actively address corruption”.

The MOFA support for MACN is part of a global anti-corruption program for 2019-2022, which extends support to civil society organizations, multilateral organizations/governments, and private sector-led initiatives.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal, enforcement, technology, and more.

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