Drugs at sea – more coke plus more ships equals more problems

Drugs at sea – more coke plus more ships equals more problems
Avatar Greg Miller 3 July 2019 https://www.freightwaves.com/news/drugs-at-sea-more-cocaine-more-ships-a...

The discovery of 15,582 bricks of cocaine aboard the container ship MSC Gayane at the Port of Philadelphia set a new record. Weighing in at 35,000 pounds, it was the largest bust in the history of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

This massive interdiction – coming on the heels of the seizure of over 1,185 pounds of cocaine on the container ship MSC Desiree in Philadelphia in March – led to the temporary suspension of the Mediterranean Shipping Company’s certificate under the voluntary Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program, which provides participants with quicker border clearances.

For the second largest container shipping company in the world to face consequences – even temporary consequences – makes this a bigger story for the transportation sector than it otherwise would be. But it could actually be an even bigger story than that. South American cocaine production is on the rise, and all container lines, as well as operators of other ship types and in other transport modes, could face increased risks ahead.

The MSC Gayane bust

The MSC Gayane, which has capacity to carry 11,600 twenty-foot-equivalent units of containers, serves the route between the west coast of South America and northern Europe. It calls in Callao, Peru and Buenaventura, Colombia on the Pacific coast of South America; traverses the larger Neopanamax locks of the Panama Canal; stops in Cristobal, Panama; the transshipment hub in Freeport, Bahamas; then Philadelphia; then across the Atlantic to Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

ix crew members have reportedly been arrested to date. The docket on the case has been sealed but a copy of the initial indictment has been seen by FreightWaves. The special agent claims to have been told by at least two crew members that the ship was met by fast boats when it was between Coronel, Peru and Panama; that multiple crew members were involved in bringing the cocaine aboard; and that the smugglers provided replacement container seals, which were used to repack the cocaine into seven containers. One of the crew members also told the special agent that the procedure had been employed on a previous voyage aboard the same vessel.

Cocaine production is on the rise

Drug smuggling operations via ocean shipping in the Atlantic Basin are primarily focused on cocaine, with that product largely coming from Colombia and being transported by land, sea and air to the United States and by sea and air to Europe.

According to the unclassified portion of the 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment by the U.S Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Colombian production reached a record high of 921 metric tons of pure cocaine in 2017, up 19 percent from the previous year and quadruple 2012 levels. The 2017 tally was the highest since at least 2007, and translated into an export-quality volume of 1,100 metric tons.

The DEA attributed the production bump to increased cultivation due to a variety of factors including “decreases in aerial and manual eradication.”

The DEA said that the majority of Colombian cocaine enters the U.S. through a route that first involves go-fast non-commercial vessels to Mexico, then across the southwest land border with Mexico aboard passenger vehicles and trucks. But it added that “traffickers are also increasingly targeting seaports along the U.S. East Coast as law enforcement efforts have increased along the southwest border.”

It predicted, “With surging coca cultivation and cocaine production in Colombia, northbound cocaine flows are expected to continue at current levels, although new trafficking patterns may emerge due to law enforcement activities.”

A considerable volume of South American cocaine is also making its way to Europe – a particularly important factor for ocean shipping companies whose vessels could be used for transport along this route.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime produces an annual report on the global drug markets. In its latest edition, it cited increasing cocaine seizures in western and central Europe, with particular rises seen in Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, as well as “marked increases” in southern and eastern Europe, with Europe seizure volumes overall up in the double-digits.