Freeport spokesman says 'hazardous' container is safe

A Malta Freeport spokesman said yesterday a container landed at Malta Freeport recently was not a threat to health and safety, even though its contents were classified as hazardous because they were potentially explosive.

"The Malta Maritime Authority gave the go ahead for the container to be unloaded and it knows exactly what the container contains.

"Malta Freeport stacks such containers in a special area. This particular container is destined for Holland and, as it was delayed by a few days in Malta, it was taken to Fort Mosta as an extra precaution," the spokesman said.

Fort Mosta is the AFM's explosives ordinance depot.

Concerns about the container were raised in parliament on Wednesday by Labour MP Evarist Bartolo, who asked for explanations about its "mystery" contents.

The spokesman said the material contained in the container could be ferried by both air and sea as it was safe for carriage .

"This is in line with the regulations of the International Maritime Organisation, which has a classification system of containers for safety purposes. When calling at port, ship captains have to declare whether they have any hazardous containers on board, even if these are not being offloaded," the spokesman said.

The spokesman said containers with materials classified as hazardous, because they contained chemicals, acid or explosives such as fireworks, frequently passed through the freeport.

"Some time ago we had 11 containers containing fireworks. These came by air from Spain and were destined for Libya. It is quite normal to have 'hazardous' containers. Chemicals and other material used by the manufacturing industry have to be shipped in one way or another. And as long as it is safe, there is no problem with that," the spokesman said.