Ocean shipping companies around the world are continuously developing good corporate citizen policies and are helping charities. Here, below, are just a few recent initiatives.
CMA CGM has entered into a strategic partnerships with the WWF (France) to develop more sustainable shipping, to protect biodiversity, to fight against the illegal trade in protected species, and to decarbonise maritime transport and logistics.
CMA CGM has also adopted a variety of other environmentally-friendly policies. It will no longer carry plastic waste as of 01 June this year; it has decided not to use the Northern Sea Route so as to protect the Arctic and it has adopted policies to strengthen the detection and protection of cetaceans (that’s whales, dolphins, and porpoises, to you and me).
MSC and Medlog have highlighted the work of “Operation Smile”, in Madagascar. Since 1982, Operation Smile has provided free surgical procedures for children and young adults born with cleft lip, cleft palate, and other facial deformities. Their first surgical operation in Madagascar was done in 2007, and they have been active on the island nation ever since.
Earlier this year, MSC moved a container of medical material from Grangemouth, UK, to Tamatave, Madagascar. The box was then moved inland by MSC group company, MEDLOG, to the Joseph Ravoahangy Andrianavalona hospital in Antananarivo.
The equipment included complete kits to equip operating theatres and equipment for the pediatric rooms of the hospital to accommodate their young patients and any accompanying adults. MSC UK and MSC Madagascar collaborated to provide logistical, storage, and overland transport support to Operation Smile to ensure the cargo reached its final destination.
Mitsui OSK Lines has announced that its employees have carried out a collection of monies from staff for donation to charity. About 2,643,500 Japanese Yen (AUD$28,460) was raised and will be donated to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme and the Japanese Red Cross Society. the funds will be used for humanitarian aid activities in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. The donation from staff follows on from an earlier ¥200 million (about US$1.7 million) donation by the company. The MOL Group expressed a hope that calm, peaceful, times will come again to the people of Ukraine and its neighbours in the region.