New Study Reveals Massive Harassment on Maersk Ships: “We Must Have a Comprehensive Cultural Change at Sea”

Via: Berlingske, Denmark’s Most Influential Daily Newspaper

June 11, 2022

By: Lasse Friis

Translated from Danish to English via Google Translate

Maersk is on its way with a number of significant changes to stop the harassment that female seafarers have experienced on the company's ships. Maersk calls it "completely unacceptable" after another serious case has emerged.

It looks far worse for the female sailors on the Maersk ships than previously thought. A new comprehensive study of women's conditions shows that there are major challenges with harassment, and Maersk is now on the way with a string of changes.

This happens after the company was hit by a violent case last year , where a 19-year-old American woman in October 2021 told that she had been raped on board one of Maersk's ships.

"We have carried out an investigation into this, and a number of new cases have emerged. This is completely unacceptable, and it shows that we must have created a cultural change on board our ships, "says Palle Laursen, fleet manager at Maersk.

The Danish company will not give any figures from the survey, but simply say that several new cases have emerged and that the scope has surprised the company.

One of the cases concerns a female naval officer who was sexually harassed on the ship "Maersk Michigan" in February this year . The captain has since been fired by Maersk.

Isolated in hotel

The woman was due to corona isolated at a hotel in the Middle East with the captain and a number of other crew members. According to the indictment to the US authorities, the captain began sending a series of messages to her while sitting in isolation.

Since then, they boarded the ship, and the harassment from the captain was further intensified. Among other things, he should have pursued her around the ship, it appears from documents sent to the American equality authorities.

"Any form of discrimination is in sharp contrast to the values ​​we have in Maersk, and we simply will not accept it. We must acknowledge that what we have done in the past has been insufficient, but we will change that with a number of initiatives, "says Palle Laursen.

He says that in the new study a number of other cases have emerged, but that Maersk will not say how many there are.

“We fully acknowledge that there is a problem that we have not dealt with properly. We must have a workplace where we do not accept any forms of harassment, "says Palle Laursen.

Already in connection with the rape case from last year, Maersk began to introduce a number of new measures to make up for the fact that women could be harassed on the ships. It has now led to a string of changes.

“We need a comprehensive cultural change at sea. For example, we need to increase the number of women at sea, and we have launched a number of initiatives to make this happen, "says Palle Laursen.

Maersk picks up boss from TV 2

Among other things, Maersk has hired Amalie Grevsen, who comes from TV 2. Here she was during the period when the TV station was undergoing an extensive cultural change, which, among other things, must make up for the time that was described in a much talked about TV documentary about harassment of women on the TV station.

The count's only task will be to change the culture on board the ships. She is now given the title of "responsible for cultural transformation in the navy".

“Our goal is to create an environment where as many people as possible have the courage to talk about these issues. We know this can be a very difficult process. Therefore, there must be many opportunities to report on this, because the individual may want to do it in different ways, "says Amalie Grevsen.

Typically, the women have been able to go to the captain or other senior staff on the ships. But it has proven to be inadequate. Maersk is therefore now introducing a so-called whistleblower scheme, just as it will be possible for the ships to contact a so-called marine HR team 24 hours a day.

“We need to look at whether our complaint procedures are clear and whether people understand them and want to take advantage of them. We look at whether their inquiries are followed up and how their inquiries are received. In addition, we must train and create an understanding of what violations and discrimination are, "says Amalie Grevsen.

A practice will also be introduced where the female seafarers will have to report back on how things went when they disembarked a ship.

Better education

Maersk will also train the group's managers on the ships in a different way. They need to be better at knowing how to handle the episodes, and understand what the company's zero tolerance policy means.

“We know that leaders initiate culture here and in general in every other workplace. I think the fact that we have created a dedicated team that will only work with this will help. Our job is always to be curious about what is happening on the ships, "says Amalie Grevsen, who will travel around the world in the future and help implement the cultural change.

Others on board must also understand their responsibilities if they experience that a colleague is being harassed. According to Maersk, there has been a reluctance to tell about the episodes because it could be perceived as stabbing others.

In addition, there must in future be at least two women on board a Maersk ship, and Maersk will help to ensure that more female seafarers are generally trained from the maritime schools.

“We need to have more women on the ships. We have a presumption that it is already starting at the educational institutions, and therefore we need to ensure that they have a healthy and good environment all the way, "says Palle Laursen.

He believes that a more equal distribution between men and women can also help reduce harassment.

“We believe that it is natural to pursue a new culture and a different tone. We are pretty sure that one of the keys to this is to work with diversity in general, "says Palle Laursen.

The case of the rape from October 2021 has since led to five sailors being fired from Maersk.