Supply chain statement, including what we cannot claim

Why this statement exists

Our work depends on suppliers we do not employ, in ports and countries where labour standards are not enforced to a single standard. Stevedoring, road haulage, catering, laundry and camp services are the parts of the chain where forced labour and labour exploitation are most often found in this industry.

Publishing a statement does not fix that. What follows is what we actually do, and where the limits are.

What we do

• Suppliers and subcontractors are screened before engagement, and the screening covers ownership and control as well as sanctions.
• Engagement terms prohibit forced labour, bonded labour and child labour, and require the supplier to apply the same terms to anyone it subcontracts.
• Suppliers are paid on their own terms rather than on the client’s payment cycle. This is a commercial decision, but it also removes one of the pressures that leads a small supplier to cut labour costs.
• Where a coordinator sees something on the ground that does not look right, the escalation route does not run through the person holding the commercial relationship.

What we cannot claim

We do not audit our suppliers’ workforces, and we are not in a position to say that no forced labour exists anywhere in our chain. Any company of our size claiming otherwise about a chain that reaches into casual port labour in a dozen countries would be overstating what its checks can establish.

What we can say is what is checked, by whom and how often, and that is set out above.

Reporting a concern

If you believe someone in an operation we coordinate is being exploited, tell us. Write to ops@247div.com. Keep the message short, leave out anything that should not travel by email, and we will agree how the rest should reach us.