Two Maersk ships reportedly carrying hazardous furnace waste from Albania to Thailand have been banned from Thai ports and will be sent back to Europe.

Deputy Transport Minister Manaporn Charoensri said on Wednesday that the container ship Maersk Candor’s last confirmed location was off South Africa last Friday. It was scheduled to arrive in Singapore on Aug 24. 

The second vessel, the Maersk Campton, was scheduled to reach Singapore on Thursday, she said.

The two ships were reported to be carrying about 100 containers of electric arc furnace dust destined for Laem Chabang Port in Chon Buri province.

The suspect cargo in 40 containers on the Maersk Campton will be sent back to Italy, according to the marine cargo tracking website of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, which will be transporting the shipment back to Europe.

Maersk is working with Singaporean authorities and the shipping line for which it is transporting the containers “to ensure that the containers will be repatriated to Albania in the best way possible”, spokeswoman Summer Shi said.

A further 60 containers of suspected waste currently on board the Maersk Candor, which is due in Singapore later this month, will also head back to Europe, Ms Shi said.

Port Authority of Thailand director-general Kriengkrai Chaisiriwongsuk told Thai PBS there had been no contact with the two ships, and no request to visit Thailand. He stressed that Thailand would not accept shipments of waste.

Jatuporn Buruspat, permanent secretary for natural resources and environment, said the Department of Industrial Works had already informed Singapore that Thailand would not accept electric arc furnace dust.

Authorities have been working to stop the shipment since Basel Action Network, a US-based non-profit group that tracks toxic trade, last week informed Thailand that the containers it believes are filled with potentially harmful electric arc furnace dust were heading its way.

The furnace dust, which requires treatment, is a hazardous waste product that commonly comes from recycling scrap steel and contains toxic metal oxides like cadmium and chromium that are harmful to health and the environment.

MSC and Albanian authorities did not respond to requests for comment.

Maersk said none of the containers were declared to contain hazardous waste, otherwise it would have declined to carry them. Bloomberg News could not independently verify what the ships are carrying. The companies exporting and receiving the containers have not been identified.

The Maersk Campton — which had turned off its location transmission — is now displaying its location and sailing through the Malacca Strait. Maersk said the vessel had stopped broadcasting its location as it neared Cape Town due to security concerns in the region.

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. 

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