Durrës, Albania - A ship carrying possibly toxic industrial waste unloaded on Friday at an Albanian port, after being refused entry to Thailand and spending months at sea, authorities said.
The Turkish-flagged Moliva container ship -- believed to be carrying around a hundred containers filled with suspicious waste -- arrived in the waters near the port of Durres last week.
But it was not initially permitted to dock at the port. It had to wait until Friday before being allowed to unload.
The authorities took charge of "102 containers unloaded from the ship", the interior ministry said.
"The whole operation was carried out according to a strict plan ordered by the prosecutors in Durres."
The containers are being taken to a "secure location, away from populated areas, complying with all rigorous conditions for physical, environmental and sanitary safety", the ministry added.
Each step during the process was "recorded and documented, and the containers were checked, scanned and verified", it said.
The Durres prosecutor's office had launched an investigation into "smuggling of prohibited goods" and "abuse of power", in cooperation with the European Anti-Fraud Office OLAF.
On Monday it urged several public institutions to make their laboratories and experts available to analyse the contents of the containers.
The containers left Albania in early July, and according to documents from Albanian customs authorities at that time, its cargo consisted of 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 cargo actually contains electric arc furnace dust (EAFD).
Classified as toxic waste, this dust must be stored and transported under very strict conditions.
The cargo was ultimately rejected by Thailand and returned to Albania after several months at sea, with stopovers and ship changes in various countries including 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 the developing world 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.
