Controls and scanning of 100 per cent of containers have been key in the decrease in seizures
Ecuador has fallen off the Port of Antwerp’s list of top five countries responsible for the highest number of drugs shipments after significantly reducing the contamination of its exports.
Seizures in Antwerp decreased from 121 tonnes in 2023 to 44 tonnes in 2024, while in the Port of Rotterdam they fell from 12,000kg to 9,700kg over the same period. As reported in La Hora, the progress is down to improved collaboration between the banana sector and the Ecuadorean authorities and the implementation of stricter controls on exports, including 100 per cent scanning of containers.
Welcoming the news, José Antonio Hidalgo, executive director of the Ecuadorean Banana Exporters Association (Aebe), said: “We are seeing results. This does not happen overnight. These are permanent efforts that are reflected in each of the links and also accompanied by a public security policy that must be maintained over time”.
Although seizures of Ecuadorean cargo have decreased, the total volume of drugs seized in the EU remains the same, suggesting a possible displacement of the problem to other Latin American countries. Ecuadorean exporters urged the European Union to assume greater role in the war on drugs.
“We must see a commitment to co-responsibility and much more aggressiveness on the part of the European Union: campaigns to reduce consumption in European countries, investments to have support in all processes of the export chain to avoid contamination with drugs, more investments and controls in the ports of destination in Europe, exchange of scanning images between the police forces of Ecuador and Europe,” Hidalgo noted.
He also called for fewer intrusive inspections – requiring the physical opening of containers to inspect cargo for possible drug contamination – on banana shipments leaving Ecuadorean ports, noting that they generate delays and additional costs for exporters.
“We that these will be drastically reduced in exchange for greater co-responsibility between the police forces of Ecuador and Europe,” Hidalgo said.
