Ivory and Timber seized at Pemba Port

At last a move by the Mozambican authorities! As this blog and any number of other publications have been reporting, the "Illegal Ivory Trade" still flourishes in Africa, especially on the coast of Tanzania and Mozambique where large Chinese owned or back companies are raping the natural resources of these countries. Allowed to operate mostly without any oversight from "ANYONE" because of under the counter, back door payoffs proliferated by greedy corrupt politicians both on the local and national level these countries are becoming rich as the indigenous populations sink further and further into poverty. What little good the "honest local official, or national government officer" want to do is quickly smothered in bureaucracy.
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(2011-01-14) Mozambican authorities who seized the container ship “Kota Mawar” in the northern port of Pemba as it was about to depart with 161 twenty-foot containers full of unprocessed timber, have announced that they have made another discovery. In a parallel operation, the authorities found 29 containers on the docks belonging to Miti Lda, some of which contained ivory.

The authorities are still searching the port for more illegal exports. There are suspicions that elements in the port, including in the customs service, have been complicit in allowing illegal exports. This suspicion has been reinforced by the fact that it was the police who intervened to stop the ship leaving harbour after it had been given the green light from customs.

The operation to unload “Kota Mawar” was delayed by arguments over who was responsible for the cost of removing the containers of wood.

Meanwhile, the owner of Pemba port, the national port and rail company, CFM, is complaining that no other ships can dock at the port due to the size of “Kota Mawar”.

“The losses are enormous. No other ship can dock and we are on the fourth day of being idle, while costs continue to mount without any income. I am talking of the fixed costs of electricity, water and labour that are not doing anything” said the port’s Paulo Bento.

Bento went on to say that the final evaluation of losses can only take place after receiving the ships that are waiting for the space occupied by “Kota Mawar”.

2011-01-13) The Mozambican authorities have aborted an apparently illegal attempt to export large quantities of unprocessed logs hacked out of the forests of the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

161 20-foot containers full of the logs had been loaded in the port of Pemba, the provincial capital, onto the “Kota Mawar”, a ship operated by SDV-AMI, a company registered in the Caribbean island of Antigua. The cargo was destined for unspecified “Asian countries”.

According to a report in Wednesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, the timber belongs to five companies owned by Chinese citizens – namely Mofid (89 containers), Tienhe (30), Pacif (20), Sinlan (15) and Alphaben (7).

Officials in the agriculture and customs services must have been complicit in the attempt to smuggle out the logs – for if they had been doing their job properly, the containers would never have been loaded onto the ship.

Indeed the “Kota Mawar” had received the green light from customs to leave last Sunday – but it was the police that intervened to stop the export.

There is an order to unload the containers, but the operation has not yet began because the owner of Pemba port, the national port and rail company, CFM, has demanded to know who will pay for the operation.

Meanwhile, other ships are queing up to enter Pemba. The “Kota Mawar” is so large (179 metres long) that no other ship can dock. The port authorities say that the tankers which supply the hydrocarbon exploration vessel on the high seas are expected in the port within the next day or so.

At least one of the timber companies involved, Mofid, is a repeat offender. In 2004, the Cabo Delgado Provincial Court had to intervene to stop a ship leaving Pemba, laden down with illegal timber exports from Mofid and seven other companies.

In January 2007, Mofid was again caught, this time trying to export 47 containers full of unprocessed logs. The export was blocked because the then provincial governor, Lazaro Mathe, ordered that the wood be seized.

Source: AIM NEWS