In Fleet-Wide Policy Letter, Maersk V.P. Labor Instructs Captains Who Witness Sexual Assault Aboard Their Vessels To Tell Sex Criminals “They Will Be Sent Off In The Next Port If They Don't Shape Up.”
In a stunning policy letter sent to all Maersk Line, Limited captains in the wake of outrage over Maersk’s Midshipman-X scandal, Ed Hanley, Vice President of Labor, has instructed Maersk captains and senior officers who witness incidents of criminal sexual assault aboard their vessels to issue the perpertrators informal verbal warnings to “shape up.”
MLAA obtained a copy of Hanley’s recent letter, which Hanley directed to be posted publicly for “All Hands” aboard all vessels in Maersk Line, Limited’s fleet.
In his letter, Hanley wrote:
If you witness SASH or anything resembling potential SASH, intervene. Lead. Set the tone. Let the victim know you have their back and let the perpetrator know they will be sent off in the next port if they don't shape up. Most SASH perpetrators are cowards and will fold when confronted. Confront them!
As the senior executive in charge of labor relations at Maersk, MLAA assumes Hanley understands that “SASH” is an acronym for “Sexual Assault & Sexual Harassment.”
MLAA also assumes Hanley understands that any type of sexual assault committed aboard an American-flag vessel is a federal crime pursuant to 18 U.S. Code Chapter 109A (also known as the “Sexual Abuse Act of 1986”).
Criminal shipboard sexual assault pursuant to 18 U.S. Code Chapter 109A includes abusive sexual contact, which is defined as:
“the intentional touching, either directly or through the clothing, of the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of any person with an intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade, or arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person;”
If one of Ed Hanley’s captains is a witness to any crewmember aboard his vessel touching someone else in an inappropriate sexual manner, or if that captain hears a report of such unlawful touching, MLAA assumes that Hanley understands the legal responsibility of that captain and Maersk itself to immediately report the sexual assault to the United States Coast Guard in accordance with 46 U.S. Code § 10104 - Requirement to report sexual offenses.
Hanley and Maersk should be intimately familiar with the sexual assault reporting requirements of 46 U.S. Code § 10104 because, as MLAA has previously reported, Maersk Line, Limited was recently fined $10,000 by the U.S. Coast Guard for violating 46 U.S. Code § 10104 while conducting a shocking shipboard sexual assault coverup involving USMMA cadets.
In a different section of Hanley’s Shape Up Letter, Hanley states that “MLL has a zero-tolerance towards harassment and abuse of any kind.”
It is difficult for MLAA to reconcile Maersk’s purported “zero-tolerance” policy towards shipboard sexual assault with written instructions from Maersk’s senior personnel executive that his captains violate federal sexual assault reporting laws by issuing informal verbal warnings to perpetrators instead of immediately firing them and reporting them to federal law enforcement officials.
MLAA can only conclude that Maersk does not actually maintain a “zero tolerance” policy towards shipboard sexual harassment and sexual assault, which is more evidence that shipping companies are incapable of self-regulation and self-policing on this important issue.
Only the U.S. Coast Guard can enforce a true zero tolerance policy, and it is going to take an act of Congress to force the Coast Guard to step up.