Drug Trafficking
Drug trafficking is destroying lives, families and communities. Liner carriers will not tolerate having their services abused by criminals, and we are working closely with law enforcement and customs authorities to help fight drug trafficking, on an industry level as well as in carriers’ daily operations.
Partnerships with customs and law enforcement.
Since 2001 WSC has been working with the IMO and WCO to combat drug smuggling and, more recently, WSC members have been working with Customs and Law enforcement agencies from the US, UK, CA, AU, NZ, EU (and associated countries) to fight this scrouge.
WSC member companies are investing tens of millions of dollars every year on security measures, and are, as part of their daily operations, supporting the Customs community and law enforcement with insight into ocean liner industry operations. This investment combined with developing trusted partnerships with Customs and law enforcement to exchange information is a key part of WSC’s mission to combat drug trafficking.
Combating Drug Smuggling.
An important part of combating drug smuggling is knowing accurately who is moving what cargo, to whom, and from where, which enables governments to focus their resources efficiently to counter threats and at the same time permit legitimate trade to pass unimpeded. To address this issue, it is essential to look at the whole supply chain, from packing stations and motor carriers all the way to loading the container on the vessel.
WSC are also in close dialogue with ports and ship agent organisations to support each other’s efforts to prevent drug trafficking. Securing our Ports at the countries of destination is important, but an even broader cooperation with ports, terminals, exporters, intermediaries and other logistics providers in source and transit countries is needed to keep the drugs out of the supply chain altogether.
Operation Tin Can.
The close collaboration established between the WCO, the UNODC, and WSC, with strong support from the Australian Border Force, resulted in a major joint operation involving customs, police, and other agencies from across the world to crack down on organized crime and insider threats exploiting the container supply chain.
Operation TIN CAN, which ran at the end of 2022, highlighted the success that can be had when a broad collation of countries and industry members work to achieve a likeminded goal. During TIN CAN, 58 WCO members countries in coordination with WSC members, carried out a month-long counter-smuggling operation that resulted in 43 arrests and 158 drug seizures, netting 98,734 kilograms of cocaine and 314 kilograms of cannabis herbals.
The operation’s success was built upon collaboration with the shipping industry and the combination of traditional law enforcement methods with new innovative data visualization tools, and container tracking technology. Additionally, this operation had tangible results: beyond the significant seizures made, customs and law enforcement authorities have now updated their cargo selection criteria and are targeting the new smuggling trends that were observed. This first-of-its-kind operation strengthened trust and collaboration between industry and government.
The WCO and UNODC will further enhance the cooperation and information exchange between Member States, the Ocean Shipping Industry and Private Sector in other transport areas facing similar security threats.
The close collaboration between customs, law enforcement, carriers and WSC continues, with the aim of making the practices tested during Operation Tin Can standard procedure.
The EU Ports Alliance.
The World Shipping Council is playing a key role in the new EU Ports Alliance (EUPA), set up to respond to the surge of illegal narcotics entering the EU via major container ports such as Antwerp and Rotterdam. The Alliance is intended to help mobilize, support and coordinate the efforts of different authorities and private entities across the EU.
Public private partnerships of the kind pioneered by WSC members together with the UNODC, WCO, B5 and individual EU states are of key interest to the Commission as examples of intelligence sharing best practice.
The Alliance is also examining the use of new smart security technologies to detect and prevent trafficking. It will also map the legal frameworks for ensuring security in EU ports and measures to improve the screening of employees for criminal associations.