DURRS: A ship carrying hundreds of tonnes of possibly toxic industrial waste returned to Albania’s largest seaport of Durres on Monday, months after setting sail to dispose of the material in Thailand.

The Turkish-flagged Moliva container ship, believed to be carrying around a hundred containers filled with suspicious waste, was expected to be tested by Albanian authorities.

“The ship is anchored in Durres about one kilometre from the port,” Jim Puckett, director of the Basel Action Network (BAN) a non-governmental organisation that combats the export of toxic waste to developing countries, said.

Puckett was at the Albanian port, awaiting the vessel’s expected docking in the afternoon. “We would hope that the prosecutors team will be here when the ship arrives,” Puckett said.

He urged them to “put the containers under high security watch and not allow them to be opened until it can be done in an organised way, in the public view, so that the contents can be sampled and later analysed,” he added.

The Moliva left Albania in early July and according to documents Albanian customs authorities at that time its cargo consists of industrial waste, specifically “iron oxide,” whose export is authorised.

However, information passed on to BAN by a whistleblower suggests the cargo actually contains electric arc furnace dust.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2024