Supply and value chain
Responsible practices and decisions
Every year, we need to procure thousands of different items to run our operations, from engine parts to hand soap, crew uniforms to food and drink. Then we must get it on to our fleet of ships, which are constantly on the move. Our procurement teams are building relationships with suppliers all over the world to satisfy our requirements and meet our procurement standards.
PROMOTING LOCAL SOURCING
One important way we can help the local communities we visit, is to purchase from local suppliers. Procurement plays an important role in our business and our teams work hard to source and purchase a huge volume of supplies for our fleet, crew and guests, from mechanical parts to special foods to feed thousands. The teams also manage the logistics of delivering these items to our ships that are on the move around the world.
We source around 75% of our food and beverages close to where our ships operate, supporting local economies and reduce our emissions, through fewer food miles.
PROMOTING LOCAL SOURCING
BUSINESS PARTNER’S CODE OF CONDUCT
We outline our expectations of suppliers in our Business Partners’ Code of Conduct and explain our commitment to operate in a fair, ethical and responsible way. Specific aspects of ethical business conduct and sustainability are incorporated into supplier contracts and agreements, overseen by our Supplier Compliance Programme.
BUSINESS PARTNER’S CODE OF CONDUCT
SUSTAINABLE RETAIL PRODUCTS
We are keen to provide our guests with high quality, sustainable products for sale through our retail outlets, with many products from our MSC Cruises and Ocean Cay brands made from natural or recycled material materials. We also encourage our suppliers to offer sustainable options from their product range.
We actively search for suppliers who share our commitment to sustainability, guaranteed through relevant certifications. Many of our suppliers are B-Corp certified, demonstrating they meet the highest standards in social and environmental performance.
We have also reviewed transport routes for our products to reach our ships and removed 90% of airfreight from our supply chain through better planning and using a new forecasting tool to more effectively predict onboard demand.
There is an MSC Foundation Centre on six of our ships and the net proceeds from their sustainability sourced items goes directly to support good causes.
