According to Belgian and Dutch authorities, shipping group Maersk has been used by drug smugglers in Europe’s two largest ports, Antwerp and Rotterdam, writes Jyllands-Posten.

The media outlet is familiar with several cases where employees of the shipping company or its subsidiaries have shared confidential information that could help smugglers transport drugs in Maersk’s containers.

Some of the cases have not yet been brought to court, while a more recent case was decided by a Dutch court in 2022.

Chief of police at the Port of Rotterdam Jan Janse tells Jyllands-Posten that Maersk is still ”infiltrated,” adding that this is something that ”applies to all the major shipping companies.”

”All logistics with containers is about how you can move a container as quickly and as cheaply as possible from A to B. Maersk, along with MSC and other shipping companies, are very efficient, but they have forgotten how to make themselves resistant to abuse,” the police chief says to the media.

There are also cases in the Dutch courts where Maersk employees are not involved, but where the company’s ships and terminals are.

According to Janse, the police in the Netherlands have investigated a large number of cases involving corrupt shipping company employees. In some cases, the carriers themselves have taken action based on suspicions of corruption among their personnel.

(Translated using DeepL with additional editing by Kristoffer Grønbæk)