Ship Inspectors Worldwide Demand Bribes: Ex-Captain

Seafarers have told the BBC that port officials routinely demand cash, cigarettes, food, and drink as bribes before allowing ships through. So-called "gratuities" are against international anti-corruption laws.

There have been incidents of crews being held at gunpoint after refusing to hand over items such as cigarettes.

But the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) said it received 5,183 reports in 2023, Ruth Alexander reported.

The International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) is working to tackle it. Ex-captain Stephen Gudgeon said he was once held at gunpoint after refusing to hand over cigarettes at a port in Asia.

"They took me ashore at gunpoint and I was locked up. I was photographed and fingerprinted, and I was interviewed by two officials in an empty room with just a chair, which I was locked into," he told the BBC.

MACN told the BBC it had received 61,000 reports in more than 1,000 ports across 150 countries since it opened an anonymous helpline in 2011.

Cecilia Muller Torbrand, the head of the MACN, said experiences as intimidating as Gudgeon's were uncommon but that the shipping industry was "quite exposed to corruption risks" and that the number of incidents reported would be "the tip of the iceberg."

She said this was due to "the combination of frequent government interaction, shipping across multiple jurisdictions and the time element of sailing in and out of ports."