Maersk to ship suspected toxic dust back to Europe

Shipping company Maersk has announced that it will send hundreds of tonnes of suspected toxic waste headed for Thailand back to Europe.

About 816 total tonnes of alleged hazardous industrial waste in 100 containers that were transferred by two of the shipping line’s chartered vessels, Maersk Candor and Maersk Campton, will be returned to their country of origin, Albania.

Last week, the Mail & Guardian reported on the weeks of intrigue regarding the journey of the two ships after the international watchdog group, the Basel Action Network (Ban), alerted Albania, Thailand and several transit countries including South Africa about the shipment of what is believed to be toxic steel furnace dust collected from pollution control filters in Albania.

The containers were transported in July from Albania to Trieste, Italy, where they were loaded onto the two Maersk ships. As they sailed towards Southeast Asia, Ban and its partners, the environmental justice organisations, groundWork, Friends of the Earth South Africa and Ecological Alert and Recovery – Thailand, sounded the alarm hoping to have the ships detained in transit countries.

But both ships went “dark” on parts of their journey, including in South Africa’s waters, by deactivating their automatic identification system GPS transponders, according to the environmental groups.  

As the vessels approached Cape Town, the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment said it contacted Albania and Thailand to confirm the information communicated by Ban and set about tracking the vessels in question. 

The department, together with the police, the South African Maritime Safety Authority, the Navy and the Port of Cape Town, planned to inspect the ships when they docked and contacted Interpol to assist South Africa in this matter. 

But Maersk said the ships would merely pass through South Africa’s exclusive economic zone on their way to Thailand via Singapore.

Under the United Nations’ Basel Convention, the transport of hazardous wastes without the approval of the exporting country (Albania), the transit countries or the scheduled importing country (Thailand) is illegal waste trafficking. 

“Albania was never informed about the export by the exporter, the transit states were not informed and Thailand never received any notification. Due to this fact, Maersk is risking potential liability of criminal trafficking in waste,” the environmental groups said. 

The department confirmed that South Africa had not received a request for transit consent.

Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Albanian officials are investigating how 800 tonnes of alleged hazardous industrial waste was shipped from its port without authorisation.

The return of the cargo to Albania is a win for global environmental governance, said Rico Euripidou of groundWork, Friends of the Earth South Africa. This is because Maersk “acknowledged their responsibilities and complicity in negating what would have resulted in a contravention of the Basel Convention and in enabling illegal trade in hazardous waste, and also most likely would have ultimately resulted in environmental contamination with impacts on human health”. 

In a letter sent on Monday to Lene Bjorn, the head of corporate sustainability at Maersk,  Ban executive director Jim Puckett said: “I write to thank you for Maersk’s decision and applaud your courage and leadership. It is our understanding that the approximately 40 containers of suspected hazardous waste aboard the Maersk Campton were unloaded in Singapore on August 18 2024.” 

The letter said that on August 19, these containers were listed as having been transferred to the MSC ship, the Maria Saveria, scheduled to sail to Italy on 21 August, where they would be transferred to another ship bound for Durres, Albania. 

“It is further our understanding that the Maersk Candor has been dark since August 9 and is due in Singapore on 24 August,” he wrote. 

Puckett, outlining the next steps that must be followed, said: “Ban strongly recommends that Maersk coordinate with MSC and Singaporean authorities to have split samples aboard the MSC Maria Saveria and Maersk Candor taken by two independent laboratories.”

These tests should be run for heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dioxins and the results be made public. “Such tests can be taken before commencing repatriation and outcomes of such tests should not alter the intent to repatriate the containers,” he wrote. 

Puckett said Maersk must sign a statement with MSC guaranteeing that “all of the 100 containers of concern” will return directly to Durres. “Maersk should maintain holder status of all of the containers until they return to Albania at which time they can be managed by the Albanian government.” 

He added that Maersk also needed to put measures in place to prevent its ships from moving hazardous, electronic and plastic waste to developing countries.

Ecological Alert and Recovery – Thailand‘s Penchom Saetang said in a statement: “We are very appreciative that Maersk has agreed to take these wastes back to Albania.” 

“Asia is far too often being victimised by global shipments of hazardous wastes, e-wastes and plastic wastes. We hope Maersk will work to take responsibility for doing their part in enforcing the Basel Convention.”