Progress 2020: Responsible procurement

Monitoring and addressing sustainability risks in our supply chain strengthens, our stakeholders’ trust in our brand,  increases our preparedness for rising regulatory attention on due diligence in supply chains, and contributes to our commercial strategy to deliver sustainable end-to-end offerings to our customers.

The A.P. Moller - Maersk Supplier Code of Conduct (Code) sets out minimum requirements on responsible business practices for our direct suppliers and select sub-suppliers, to operate in accordance with responsible business principles and in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. In our own supply chain, we work through our Responsible Procurement Programme. Increasingly, this also serves a commercial purpose, as our global integrator strategy leads to purchasing logistics on behalf of customers outside our own supply chain. 

Consequently, we are expanding the scope of our Responsible Procurement in line with ambitions to strengthen sustainability in end-to-end offerings, and work to operationalise post-sourcing audits for trucking, warehousing and third-party labour providers, and to implement a collaborative approach involving teams from Responsible Procurement, HSSE and Employee Relations. 

At present, in our Responsible Procurement Programme, we assess complianc+D1e with the Supplier Code of Conduct with approximately 3,500 suppliers in  high-risk categories, by conducting due diligence activities such as audits, self-assessments and documentation reviews. This is out of a total supplier population of about 59,000.
We use a risk-based approach working with suppliers in 15 high-risk categories. Suppliers are asked to address any gaps in the implementation of requirements through a time-bound improvement plan in consultation with Maersk. Periodic reviews and follow-up audits are conducted. 

Read about our 2020 performance and activities on pages 23 and 37 in the 2020 Sustainability Report.

Read more about responsible procurement.