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Shipping companies' crucial need for cost cutting is their main motive for recruiting seafarers of various nationalities and formulating multicultural teams on board ships. This paper seeks to examine ways of dealing with cultural issues by being a socially responsible company. The main point of the research is to examine how managing multicultural crews is related to the shipping companies' and the industry's social responsibility. An extensive literature review on the cultural issues of maritime manpower, with a focus on the working and living conditions and the management of shipping crews, reveals important aspects of the subject. This analysis is enriched with qualitative data from an on-board case study, and from a survey among crew managers and manning agents. Results show that managing multicultural human resources in a socially responsible manner requires socially acceptable behaviour towards seagoing labour from all the industrial actors.

The last few years a great body of research focused on the problems observed in the shipping industry due to the mix of different nationalities on board. Herein, the problem is observed in the managerial level, and specifically to the applied crew management strategies and the philosophy of the shipping companies regarding the issue of multiculturalism. The present paper seeks to elevate the value of human resources in shipping and to underline the potentials that human resource management and cultural diversity management have as a shipping company's core competency. In a triangulated theoretical framework, the combination of resource-based view, human resource management, and cultural diversity management leads to a framework of choices which include strategies for the management of maritime human resources' cultural diversity. The paper analyses the practical application of the proposed strategies and the fulfilment of the criteria required for turning crew management to a core competency and gaining sustainable competitive advantage from human resources.

Currently there are no mandatory, internationally accepted rules written specifically to govern ship operations in Arctic waters. The Arctic is recognized by the IMO Guidelines for Ships Operating in Polar Waters as a significant area for international shipping that requires special attention to crew training and operational procedures. A legally binding Polar Code which should identify and unify the commonalities of what it takes, and what is currently enforced by flag states, to safely operate in all Arctic nation waters, is viewed by many as a sensible way forward. This paper presents a synopsis of the results of a funded research project that aimed to identify best practices currently in place by Arctic ship operators. It also aimed to identify possible new ways in which shipping operations in the Arctic could maximize benefits and reduce risks to all stakeholders. A review of the scientific literature clearly highlighted the chasms of knowledge regarding the impacts of marine related activity in Arctic waters. With respect to a methodological approach, a website search was conducted to look for shipping companies informing that they were involved in Arctic operations. The website search of Arctic shipping companies helped with the creation of a questionnaire aimed at identifying “best practices” currently in place with Arctic shipping operators. The questionnaire was administered electronically. Subsequently, a number of companies, identified from the website search and representing a pan-Arctic sample of operators, were contacted by email to inquire if they were interested in taking part in the online questionnaire.