Nigeria impounds containership carrying 'toxic batteries'

NIGERIA has impounded a containership of unclear ownership and origin that was allegedly laden with toxic waste, customs officials in Lagos said last week, reported Mumbai's CommodityOnLine.

The crew and its agents aboard the vessel, identified as the MV Nashville, docked at the Tin Can Island Port at Lagos, were also arrested and detained, pending an investigation, the officials said.

The MV Nashville, whose ownership and nation of origin were unclear late Friday, was alleged to be carrying 70 used lead batteries and broken televisions, officials cited by the allAfrica.com news site said.

Mike Zampa, vice president for corporate communications of Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines, told United Press International the ship was in no way related to his company, despite earlier reports it was.

"It is not our ship. We do not own a ship by that name. We have no vessel service to Nigeria. It's wrong information," he said in a phone interview from Singapore. He said he had no idea whose ship it was.

UPI was unable to immediately determine the ship's owner, operator, origin or destination.

The batteries aboard the MV Nashville were classified as code A1180 under the 1992 Basel Convention, an international treaty designed to reduce hazardous waste movements, specifically from developed countries to less developed countries. The United States is one of three countries that signed the treaty but failed to ratify it. The two others are Afghanistan and Haiti.

(Source: www.schednet.com)