“To conduct strategic research in support of an efficient and fair maritime industry and the decent employment of seafarers.”

SRI carries out research into all aspects of the legal framework of the maritime industry and those who work at sea.  Its objective is to provide the shipping industry, governments, UN agencies and all other sectors of the maritime industry with the facts and analysis needed for informed and evidence-based decision making.

The regulation of shipping is complex.  At any one time, a number of different States may have some kind of interest in a particular ship, and those who work on that ship. This legal framework can span international, regional and national laws, and can cross disciplines such as maritime, labour, human rights, criminal and environmental law. There can be conflicts of laws and there are unique challenges in the enforcement of laws for those who operate in an industry where there is often functional separation of ownership, operation and regulation.

SRI was launched at the headquarters of the International Maritime Organization of the United Nations by the then Secretary-General, Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, on World Maritime Day in the Year of the Seafarer, 23 September 2010.  Today it operates at the heart of the shipping industry, offering impartial high-quality legal and policy research in regulatory and operational issues of concern to the maritime industry.

International Strategic Research

SRI conducts strategic research internationally.  Our research covers national and international legal frameworks for the maritime sector. Our work is set against the background of changes that are occurring around the world, faster than ever before.  These changes are heavily impacting the international supply chain. First there was COVID.  Now there are hot wars and civil wars; preparations for wars; and trade wars. Our research is impartial and objective. The need for impartial and objective research that finds common ground has never been greater.

90% of international trade is conducted by sea.  Maritime transportation is therefore the most significant mode of transportation in the multi-modal international supply chain.  Building on maritime transport and seafarers’ issues, the maritime sector now also sits in the broader context of the multi-modal transport in the global supply chain.  

Our Mission and Objective

To conduct strategic research in support of an efficient and fair maritime industry and the decent employment of seafarers.

The work of SRI is guided by an Advisory Board comprising a cross-section of individuals of high repute from the shipping industry, academia and the legal world.  The Board gives advice to the Executive Director on the strategic direction of the work of SRI and provides expert guidance on the content of SRI’s work programmes.

Advisory Board