Albania Investigates Ship Suspected of Carrying Carcinogenic Industrial Waste
Moliva ship in Albania, 2024. X/ @euronewsfr
October 30, 2024 Hour: 12:20 pm
The toxic cargo was part of a deal between the Kosovar company Sokolaj and the Turkish firm Kurum.
The Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into the cargo of a ship that has returned to Albania its shores after being rejected in Thailand. After navigating for three months, the Turkish-flagged vessel Moliva failed to dock at its destination due to suspicions that it was carrying 2,100 tons of toxic waste.
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Albanian prosecutors must now decide if their country will take back the cargo. Meanwhile, the Moliva remains anchored about 2 kilometers off the Albanian coast, where it was held after being denied permission to dock at the port of Durrës in the Adriatic Sea.
The ship had departed from Albania in July bound for Thailand. However, when it arrived in that Asian country, authorities rejected the cargo after the U.S.-based NGO Basel Action Network warned of the risk that it might contain toxic substances.
According to Albanian customs, at the time of departure, the cargo was registered “not as an export, but as international transit.” Prosecutors have now ordered the containers’ seizure, impoundment, and storage in a secure location. “Measures must be taken to store the seized items in a place that is safe in terms of environmental and physical security, with 24-hour camera surveillance,” they said.
The embargo also requires that the waste remains intact and that no attempt is made to open the containers during the investigation. So far, there has been no decision on when the ship may dock in Durrës. According to Albanian media, before being loaded into containers for transport to Thailand, the allegedly hazardous waste was stored in an open yard in Durrës without being declared toxic.
The cargo, suspected of containing carcinogenic by-products from metallurgical processes, was part of a commercial agreement between the Kosovar company Sokolaj and the Turkish firm Kurum, a steel producer operating in Elbasan, a city in central Albania.
This case has drawn attention not only in Albania but also in the European Union. A joint investigation is currently underway, involving both the Durrës Prosecutor’s Office and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in Brussels, with the aim of determining the legitimacy of the shipment and its contents.
In a joint statement issued in August, Albania’s Ministries of Infrastructure and Environment warned that Albania would not automatically assume responsibility for re-importing industrial waste based solely on “suspicions and speculations.” The statement stressed the need for thorough analysis and solid evidence before deciding whether the waste should be returned to its origin.
For its part, the Turkish company that owns the vessel, Moley, denied any responsibility for the cargo on board, as this is determined by the lessee. “The container company loads the ship. It’s their company that follows the ship’s route and does business with the container cargo. We only rent the ship,” said Servet Yardimci, a member of Moley’s Board of Directors.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
