Human rights and governance

Ensuring sound governance practices at all levels, is a key part of sustainability at ESL Shipping. Our Code of Conduct defines a common set of rules for sustainable business for the Group.

As an international company, ESL Shipping also operates in countries in which corruption is common. According to Transparency International, these include for example Russia. Our Code of Conduct prohibits corruption and bribery in all forms. Code of Conduct training includes anti-corruption issues and provides guidance for identifying any suspicious situations and practices considered unethical. In 2021, over 98% of the ESL Shipping’s shore personnel completed the Code of Conduct training.

The key tool in the prevention of corruption and bribery is the responsible management of the supply chain. To ensure appropriate operating methods, Aspo has prepared the Supplier Code of Conduct, with compliance required from all suppliers. Significant numbers of the partners of ESL Shipping are major international companies, with which each of these businesses have been engaged in long-term cooperation and have their own stabilised processes for the responsible management of supply chains.

ESL Shipping checks possible sanction risks of all counterparties with modern and efficient tools. No business is allowed before the sanction risks are checked and evaluated thoroughly. In addition, the Group monitors closely sanction risks of current counterparties as the sanction schemes evolve constantly and new sanction risks may emerge suddenly.

Compliance often means the observance of requirements, laws, rules and regulations. At ESL Shipping Group, compliance also means ensuring that we act in accordance with requirements that are derived from laws and regulations, our compliance manual, internal guidelines, Aspo’s Code of Conduct and the UN Global Compact principles.

ESL Shipping group companies all have a whistleblowing channel which is accessible on the websites of all three group companies. The system is managed by an external company which ensures the full anonymity for a person who wishes to report suspicious behaviour against our compliance requirements.