Sustainability practices and reporting in maritime logistis: A thematic analysis of sustainability reporting

Abstract

This master’s thesis focuses on sustainability reporting in maritime logistics to explore reporting practices and sustainable practices utilized by maritime logistics service providers. In the context of sustainable supply chain management, there are multiple sustainable practices that organizations use to answer external expectations and to improve their business. One of those sustainable practices is creating a sustainability report that is used in communicating sustainability to stakeholders. The utilization of different sustainable practices and the role of sustainability reporting are important to further explore to understand how maritime logistics can be improved in terms of sustainability.

This study uses a thematic analysis to explore sustainability reports of that organizations conduct and publish. To create an understanding of the prevailing reporting methods in the field the study analyzes different reporting practices that organizations use. The study analyzes different sustainable practices that are included in the reporting to understand what kind of sustainable practices organizations use in their operations. The aim is to reveal the choices organizations make when choosing to communicate about different practices in sustainability reports and the methods they use in communicating those. The study then uses these findings in creating a framework of sustainable best practices in the field.

Findings suggest that the use of standards in reporting is common among maritime logistics services providers and that the use of policies and strategic planning is common. Organizations seem to utilize multiple sustainable practices to improve their business. These practices are analyzed and compared to earlier research on the topic. Managerially the study provides a framework of utilized sustainable practices in the field which organizations can adopt in their operations to answer to the needs of stakeholders and to improve their performance in the world of limited resources.