An enormous amount of work, over many years, has been undertaken by the shipping industry, in co-operation with intergovernmental organisations, to prevent and combat this criminal activity. However, drug trafficking is a huge criminal enterprise and, unfortunately, commercial shipping can unwittingly play a role in the transportation of illicit drugs to the places where they are consumed. 

ICS continues to work hard to develop partnerships with key players in the industry, law enforcement, and administrations to raise awareness as to the threat of drug trafficking on merchant ships and ensure adequate preparation in case of arrest or ship detention due to the smuggling of illegal narcotics by sea. 

In September 2024, ICS, together with BIMCO, wrote to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in Nigeria regarding a recent plight of seafarers unwittingly caught up in detention cases. The cases involved long periods of detention ranging from 14 months to 3 years, often causing severe physical and mental anguish for the involved seafarers and their families. The increase in such cases seems to be the result of evolving cocaine smuggling routes in which drug traffickers smuggle illegal narcotics on board ships transiting Nigerian ports rather than proceeding straight to Europe from Latin America. The letter encouraged the fair treatment of seafarers in line with international standards, alerted the local authorities as to the prevalence of the issue in the region and the detrimental impact on shipping in terms of ships being discouraged from trading to Nigeria. ICS warmly welcomed the release of detained crewmembers in December 2024. 

ICS has also recently released the 2025-2026 version of our Drug Trafficking and Drug Abuse on Board Ship Guide, providing updated guidance on how to combat drug trafficking at sea and how to recognise the signs of drug use and dependence among crew members. Further, ICS has partnered with industry peers to lead the call for the fair treatment of seafarers working on ships where drugs have been found. In this regard ICS recently worked closely on developing the Guidelines on fair treatment of seafarers detained in connection with alleged crimes at the IMO Legal Committee and at the IMO/ILO Tripartite Working Group. The guidelines are now set to go to the next session of the IMO Legal Committee for approval. 

Finally, ICS has also recently developed an online resource hub compiling port specific loss prevention guidance for shipowners from local correspondents in preventing the smuggling of illegal narcotics on board ships. It can be found here.