Marc Beerlandt, CEO of container handler MSC Belgium, has called on his staff to use their common sense. “This week a container planner was arrested with us because he was supposed to work for drug gangs. Everyone is in shock,” he says on Radio 2 Antwerp.
“I told my employees via video conference that one of our planners was arrested by the police this week. He is said to have provided support to drug criminals,” says Marc Beerlandt, CEO of MSC Belgium on Radio 2 Antwerp. The police also visited the MSC buildings, at the workplace of the arrested planner, for a search. “Everyone in our company is in shock. Especially his close colleagues who worked with him in confidence. I have never experienced this before and I hope this will not happen again,” says Beerlandt.
Aarloon for a few mouse clicks
“In my message, I warned everyone at MSC Belgium. I hear from the police that drug gangs monitor the trafficking of our employees on social media. They may be asked to cooperate. I understand the lure of big money. But the consequences are also not minor. Just think of our planner who would receive an annual wage from the drug gangs in exchange for a few mouse clicks. He is now in jail, “Beerlandt said on Radio 2 Antwerp. “We have to make our employees aware of those consequences.”
Picking up a container should be safer
According to Beerlandt, steps are also being taken in the sector itself to make drug gangs more difficult. “MSC and the other maritime companies, together with the Antwerp port authority, are looking into how this can be improved. The system of the pin codes with which you can pick up a container on the quay must be fully digital and encrypted. We are the only one who has been working with a strong secure blockchain system, “Beerlandt concludes.
