Certain print media, electronic media and social media, joined by the politicians of Sri Lanka, made a mockery out
of a ship accident that happened in the territorial waters of the United States of America, on March 26, 2024.
The conspiracy theory started with a blog post that was circulated targeting different interest groups, to build up a story that had no substance or any credible data but an attempt to mislead the very vulnerable Sri Lankan society.
It is indeed shocking that some sections of society that are considered educated, were circulating bogus information on social media platforms published in the media, without fact-checking to say the least. It was quite surprising to see reputed media organisations and responsible politicians in Sri Lanka trying their best to mislead the public of the country by publishing falls information. The motives behind were unclear but was evident that it was targeting to tarnish the image of a reputed shipping line, a private terminal operator in the Port of Colombo and the US government institutions supporting Sri Lankan maritime sector through capacity building initiatives. Simply a false blog was made a national news item without any fact-finding attempts to sensationalise public sentiments.
Ignorance and irresponsibility
It is disturbing to note that responsible media and politicians could not distinguish the difference between toxic waste and hazardous cargo; they did not seem to understand the difference between the Basel convention (The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal) and United Nations International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) conventions. It is regrettable to note that the publishers and parliamentarians made statements without clarifying the issues from the relevant expert parties in the maritime industry but decided to expose their ignorance and irresponsibility.
The 56 containers that were declared as dangerous cargo on board the vessel Dali by the US authorities were within the IMO classifications of dangerous goods, which are carried almost daily by container ships as raw materials and intermediaries globally.
The IMDG Code was developed as an international code for the maritime transport of dangerous goods in packaged form, to enhance and harmonise the safe carriage of dangerous goods and to prevent pollution to the environment. Colombo being a major transshipment hub is a port that is well established to handle dangerous goods, which vary from industrial chemicals, petro chemicals, batteries and hundreds of other items that fall under the United Nations IMO classifications under dangerous cargo covered under the conventions of SOLAS and MARPOL. These containers have special handling instructions, storage, etc. and higher freight rates.
Container of hazardous cargo
The ship Dali, prior to coming into the Baltimore port, was in other ports such as New York, before departing for Colombo. The ship was bound towards Singapore, after discharging transshipment cargo in Colombo. It was reported that just one container of hazardous cargo was consigned to Colombo for manufacturing of rubber gloves, according to sources.
The media and politicians, who did not understand or purposefully decided not to understand, the difference between toxic waste and hazardous cargo, wanted to create panic among the public, for a vessel that had not even left the US territory.
It was somewhat hilarious to note that some members of Parliament were speaking not knowing the border agency procedures. They communicated to the public that the vessel had not informed the Sri Lankan authorities that it was carrying “toxic waste” and the Central Environment Authority was not aware of these containers being destined to Sri Lanka and tried to point out that the shipping line and US authorities were trying to bring in “toxic waste” into a private terminal in Sri Lanka. It was a clear attempt to tarnish the image of the Port of Colombo in the eyes of the public.
The normal practice in Sri Lanka is that the Customs Department is generally notified with the cargo manifest 72 hours prior to the arrival of a ship in the Sri Lankan economic zone or in short voyages, as soon as possible, prior to entering the territorial waters. The Ports Authority is generally notified 48 hours prior with the details and operations needed with the respective copies of the manifest. Therefore, if there is any IMO classified dangerous cargo on board, the harbour master and terminal operators are advised on the cargo on board well in advance. This certainly does not happen when the vessel is in the territorial waters of another country, as pointed out by the media and politicians.
Falsifying facts in fiction
The Central Environment Authority is only notified by the border control authorities in the event of a prohibited item on board. The Port of Colombo is supported by the US Mega Ports Initiative, which tracks wastes such as nuclear waste and radioactive products in the interest of the safety of shipping. The Port of Colombo facilitates millions of containers for transshipment and it is well equipped to handle such dangerous goods but does not allow prohibited toxic waste and there are systems and procedures between boarder control authorities to share information of products of such nature to be identified.
It is regrettable that people with no knowledge and authority make headline statements without authenticity and clarity. Certainly, they managed to disturb public sentiments without referring to the Ports Authority, Central Environmental Authority, Customs or Merchant Shipping Division. Sensationalised conspiracy theories are nothing new to Sri Lanka. But it only hurts the country’s interests as the international community would see this as laughable journalism and ignorant politicians tarnishing a country’s image for some short-term benefit or an attempt to destabilise the ports activity by falsifying facts in fiction.
(The writer, an economist by profession, with well over 32 years of experience in the shipping, international trade and logistics industry, is the founder of Shippers Academy International, a former Chairman of the Sri Lanka Shippers’ Council and First Secretary General of the Asian Shipper’s Council)
