Advancing aspects of social sustainability dimension in shipping: exploring the role of corporate social responsibility in supporting the Seafarer Human Sustainability Declaration framework

The concept of sustainable development has entered the shipping industry for good. A recent example relates to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals presented by the United Nations in 2015, which pushed the shipping industry, through the International Maritime Organization, to take early action and recognize the strong impact of shipping on sustainable development. Since then, and alongside the regulatory framework, a number of side steps have been taken by the industry to strengthen the social aspects of sustainable development in shipping. Recently, one of them refers to the Seafarer Human Sustainability Declaration, launched in April 2022. In view of such a development, this article explores whether corporate social responsibility is able to meet the demands of this recent Declaration, thereby helping the shipping industry to achieve the social aspects of sustainable development in shipping. Based on the results of an applied content analysis method, we argue that corporate social responsibility can adequately cover aspects of social sustainability and is therefore, recommended as an effective voluntary tool. However, further initiatives and reform of the regulatory framework are needed to address issues related to seafarers’ families, which have been highlighted as a vital element of Seafarers Declaration.