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 U.S.-based nonprofit that tracks toxic trade which previously alerted Malaysia to illegal e-waste shipments, last week informed Thailand that containers the organization 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.”

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. 

Alarm Raised

Basel Action Network, along with environment group Ecological Alert and Recovery-Thailand, alerted multiple countries when they learned that more than 800 tons of electric arc furnace dust was loaded onto ships in Albania and then transferred to Maersk container ships in Trieste, Italy. Shipping data available online show MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. ships were also involved in the transport, with Thailand as the final destination.

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. 

Forty 20-foot containers were loaded onto the Contship Vow on July 4 at Albania’s Durres port, according to data available on MSC’s container tracking website. The containers were then transferred to the Maersk Campton at Trieste days later, and are due to be transferred again onto an MSC ship in Singapore on August 18, according to MSC’s tracking website. 

They are scheduled to arrive at Thailand’s Laem Chabang port on August 20. 

Meanwhile, another shipment of around 60 containers, which were originally loaded onto an MSC ship out of Albania, are also making their way to Singapore on the Maersk Candor. 

The Campton stopped broadcasting its location on July 31. Maersk said the ship wasn’t scheduled to stop in South Africa and that it’s not uncommon for vessels to turn off their location transmission due to security concerns. The ship is currently in the Indian Ocean on its way to Singapore, according to Maersk.

The Campton is expected to stop in Singapore August 14 and the Candor is due there August 22 — before the alleged furnace dust-filled containers head to Thailand. 

MSC didn’t respond to a request for comment. Albanian authorities in charge of authorizing waste exports and Singapore’s port authorities also didn’t respond to requests for comment.

“The next days are crucial as Singapore and Thailand will have to act to stop the ships,” Jim Puckett, executive director of the Basel Action Network said. 

Albania should take back the containers and ensure that the waste isn’t re-exported to another unsuspecting destination, he added. 

“It’s far too easy for traders and industry to just load up containers with materials that would otherwise cost a lot to deal with properly,” he said. “The generators of this waste and any accomplices in Thailand that agreed to accept this shipment should be prosecuted to deter future traders.”