Thai authorities are racing to stop about 100 shipping containers allegedly filled with hazardous industrial waste from Albania reaching the nation’s ports.

Basel Action Network, a US-based non-profit that tracks toxic trade which previously alerted Malaysia to illegal e-waste shipments, last week informed the government that containers the organisation believes is filled with potentially harmful electric arc furnace dust were heading its way.

Adding to the alarm, one of the ships carrying the containers is no longer visible on maritime location tracking services. It went dark as it neared Cape Town late last month — after Basel Action Network said it alerted South African Authorities to the shipment. 

Thai officials, after receiving the tip that the containers had been loaded onto ships in Albania in early July, say they are working with counterparts in Albania and Singapore, where the vessels are due to dock later this month, to stop the shipments.

The relevant government agencies “weren’t notified and haven’t given consent for these shipments,” Thailand’s Department of Industrial Works, which oversees international waste management, said in an email. “We are currently coordinating and monitoring to prevent this illegal traffic.”

Trash influx

Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries have seen an influx of trash from developed countries, from dirty plastic to industrial and electronic waste, which can be laced with toxins. Under the United Nations Basel Convention — a global pact signed on by many developed economies — countries need to give consent for waste headed their way. 

The containers are aboard A.P. Moller-Maersk’s A/S’s Campton and Candor vessels, according to the Basel Action Network. Maersk confirmed two of its cargo ships are carrying containers that originated in Albania booked by another shipping line.

None of the containers were declared to contain hazardous waste, otherwise Maersk would have declined to carry them, spokeswoman Summer Shi said in an email.

“Due to the speculation about the content of these containers, Maersk will hand the containers over to the shipping line which has booked and is responsible for the containers in question,” she said.

Bloomberg News couldn’t independently verify what the ships are carrying. The companies exporting and receiving these containers haven’t been identified. 
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