Port officials in the Côte d'Ivoire's largest city Abidjan on Monday insisted that a ship carrying 20,000 tonnes of potentially explosive ammonium nitrate moored in its outer harbour posed "no danger".
Campaigners had expressed concern about the condition of the cargo, which has been refused entry in other ports and is now aboard the Barbados-flagged Zimrida.
The ship "does not represent any danger for the port facilities, even less so for the population", the port authority said in a statement, adding that it had taken necessary precautions.
The ship was "not suffering from any damage and meets all safety conditions, in line with international maritime rules", the authority added, following a meeting held with several ministries, the ship owner and the owner of the cargo.
'No specific danger'
"There is therefore no specific danger in the cargo intended for the Ivorian loader being unloaded in Abidjan port before the ship returns to the sea."
Close to 8,000 tonnes that will remain in the Côte d'Ivoire are due to be unloaded, the statement said, without specifying when.
The authority said that the cargo's owner had obtained all the necessary state documents to import its controversial cargo.
Although normally used as an agricultural fertiliser, ammonium nitrate can also be used to make explosives.
Beirut explosion
An explosion of ammonium nitrate in Beirut in 2020 killed more than 220 people, injured at least 6,500 and devastated swathes of the Lebanese capital.
It is not the first time this particular cargo has raised concerns.
Once it leaves the Côte d'Ivoire, the Zimrida is due to head to Angola and then Tanzania.
Many in the Côte d'Ivoire still remember the August 2006 Probo Koala disaster, when toxic residues on board the Panamanian-registered freighter arrived in Abidjan for treatment after the Dutch port of Amsterdam had refused to receive them.
An Ivorian sub-contractor dumped the waste on the city's garbage sites and in at least 18 other locations.
Ivorian judges say that more than 500 cubic metres (18,000 cubic feet) of spent caustic soda, oil residues and water killed 17 people and poisoned thousands more.
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