Mr. Fruergaard stated that in 2023, authorities found 167 tons of cocaine on board ships within the area, with an estimated 50% of smuggled medicine not detected. This interprets into roughly 1,100 tons of cocaine being transported from South America and Latin America on ships annually. Pacific Basin Delivery spends greater than US$3.5M yearly on numerous safety measures, together with sniffer canine, CCTV, drones and divers to forestall medicine from being smuggled onto its ships in Brazilian ports.
He shared the harrowing story of a Pacific Basin Delivery captain who was detained in a jail in Honduras for 2 years after medicine have been discovered on his ship, regardless of the ship having arrived from america. Pacific Basin Delivery additionally has 10 crew members arrested in Nigeria over medicine discovered on their ship.
His name was for a collaborative, industry-wide strategy to tackling the issue of drug smuggling. Whereas particular person corporations can take steps to strengthen their safety measures, in the end the issue requires the involvement and cooperation of all stakeholders, together with port authorities, terminal operators, prospects and legislation enforcement companies.
“We speak about decarbonization and the significance of the gear, however it’s unattainable to ensure its security and it shouldn’t find yourself in jail for 2 years below any circumstances. If we don’t settle for this problem all through the {industry} that entails everybody within the provide chain, all we do is make sure that the drug smugglers goal the following ship as an alternative of ours. The movement of medication doesn't cease.”
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