Measuring marine environmental efficiency of a cruise shipping company considering corporate social responsibility

Abstract

The importance of corporate social responsibility has been recognized in recent years. This study aims to help a cruise shipping company identify social and environmental issues that present risks and opportunities while taking into consideration the most concerning marine environmental issues to the external stakeholders. A super slack-based measure model, combined with the Malmquist productivity index, is applied to measure environmental efficiency from 2010 to 2015. Using Carnival Corporation and its subsidiaries as an example, air emissions, water and wastewater, and solid waste are included as undesirable outputs to assess environmental efficiency. The results show that Carnival is not as efficient as its subsidiaries in air emissions but makes significant progress in emission reduction technology and innovation of energy conservation. Similarly, Carnival Corporation and its subsidiaries resolve water pollution and solid waste under the regulation of MARPOL Annex IV and Annex V. Estimating and comparing green practices and green performance, the study provides an objective quantification of environmental measures to better inform shipping companies and maritime society as a whole.