Drug smuggling

Global Shipping Faces Troubling New Smuggling Questions

Global shipping companies are wrestling with apparent growing demand in a sector that they don’t want and that has law enforcement authorities around the world on high alert.

Ocean carriers saw a series of seizures of large shipments of drugs in the U.S. and Europe in 2019, and officials say they are a sign of the growing use of commercial ships for increasingly large loads of cocaine, heroin and other drugs. Officials say the growing scale of shipping operations, with the biggest container ships doubling in size over the past decade, have made them an attractive target for drug traffickers.

Ship operators are under pressure to deliver vast amounts of cargo on time, and the rule of thumb around the world is that only one in 10 containers gets checked as boxes move quickly through ports and into sprawling, complicated logistics networks.

Containers are also the cheapest way to ship cargo. It can cost up to $1,500 on average to ship a box from South America to Europe or the U.S.