(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).
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