Damen releases Corporate Social Responsibility Report

(Posted on 04/07/19)

Damen Shipyards Group has announced the publication of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report 2018. The company publishes the report annually, communicating both financial and non-financial information relating to the group’s CSR activities from the preceding year. Previously the report has been published as the Damen Sustainability Report. The change in name reflects the beginning of a new period of adjusted, broader reporting. Included in this is alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Damen Shipyards Group operates 35 shipbuilding and repair yards, employing 12,000 people worldwide.

Damen has designed to align its CSR approach to the UN Sustainable Development Goals in recognition of its global responsibilities as an international player. The group has focused on seven of the seventeen SDGs, being the most relevant to the shipbuilding industry, whilst continuing to work towards the remainder. The seven focus SDGs are Good health and well-being; Affordable and clean energy; Industry, innovation and infrastructure; Responsible consumption and production; Climate action; Life below water and Life on land.

As detailed in the report, Damen’s in-house ESUS initiative – the Core Committee for Environmental Sustainability – is a key component in working towards some of these SDGs. The report also reveals Damen’s progress on matters of corporate compliance, employee development, commitment to the local communities in which the group operates and stimulation of local industry according to the company motto ‘think global, act local’.

“With this latest report, we have broadened our reporting, including such things as structured reporting on the lifecycles of our products and more specific examples of initiatives, activities and partnerships for sustainability and orientation towards uniting social, economic and environmental responsibility,” explained Damen CEO René Berkvens.

“I am pleased with the contents of the report, which I think shows very clearly how we continue to develop the skills of our people, expand safety measures and contribute to local communities globally. Some of the concrete achievements in the report include the 2 million accident-free man hours at Damen Song Cam Shipyard in Vietnam and our financial support of several social projects in Romania. On the environmental front, we report on our expansion of applied ecological standards and the research we have conducted in eco-technological fields such as alternative fuels, as well as on the development of products with a minimal environmental footprint, such as the IMO Tier III ready RSD Tug 2513.“