A seizure of cocaine from a box on an MSC vessel has been revealed by US authorities.
A routine inspection of the 11,568-teu MSC Carlotta (built 2017) last month found a worn-looking container with doctored door pins, the New York Times reported.
The vessel had arrived in Newark from Buenaventura, Colombia.
The box should have contained dried fruit, but customs agents found 60 bundles of white powder.
This turned out to be 1.45 tonnes of cocaine worth $77m.
No arrests have been made.
MSC told TradeWinds: “In response to reports of the recent drugs seizure in New York, MSC would like to express its gratitude to the US authorities for identifying this abuse of our services.
"MSC has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Unfortunately, MSC, like other transportation companies, is affected from time to time by trafficking problems, even though we are meticulous about our internal processes and documentation procedures.
"MSC is in general committed to working with all regulatory bodies and the rest of the industry to ensure illegal practices of this nature are dealt with promptly and thoroughly.”
