Ship with suspected toxic waste stranded outside Albania

(ANSA-AFP) - TIRANA, NOV 8 - A ship carrying hundreds of tonnes of possibly toxic industrial waste remained in limbo in the waters off Albania's port of Durres, authorities confirmed Monday, months after the vessel set 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 -- arrived in the waters near Durres last week. "The port authorities of Durres and other institutions are cooperating to ensure the storage of containers in an ecologically and physically secure place," Elitjona Doko, a spokesperson for the Durres port, told AFP. In the absence of suitable space to store the potentially toxic cargo onboard, port authorities have ruled out allowing the boat to dock. "The ship Moliva is obliged to remain anchored in the port harbour, under the surveillance of the national police, until the end of the legal proceedings," the prosecutor's office in Durres said in a statement. The shipment left Albania in early July, and according to documents from Albanian customs authorities at that time, it carried industrial waste, specifically "iron oxide," whose export is authorised. However, information passed on by a whistleblower to the Basel Action Network (BAN), a non-governmental organisation that combats the export of toxic waste to developing countries, suggests the containers actually contains electric arc furnace dust (EAFD). Classified as toxic waste, this dust must be stored and transported under very strict conditions. Ultimately rejected by Thailand, the shipment turned back and returned to Albania after several months at sea, with stopovers in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Turkey. According to the paperwork on file, the waste comes from the Elbasan steel plant in central Albania. The shipment of industrial waste from Western countries to be processed elsewhere in developing countries is a global business estimated to be worth between 44 billion and 70 billion euros ($48 billion to $77 billion) annually, according to environmental NGOs. (ANSA-AFP).