DRUG gangs have infiltrated shipping supply chains to an "extreme" degree, a leading industry executive has warned, as the European Commission unveiled plans to crack down on illegal drugs flooding into Europe's ports, reports London's Financial Times.

Cocaine shipments to the EU have surged in recent years, rising to a record 303 tonnes in 2021, according to the latest continent-wide figures from the EU's drugs monitoring agency, EMCDDA, with criminal gangs directing the flow of drugs via global shipping routes.

As a result, shipping companies are dealing with "some of the most dangerous people in the world. The way that these people are infiltrating the whole supply chain, not only the shipping side or the port side, is rather extreme," said Keith Svendsen, chief executive of APM Terminals, a division of Danish shipping group Maersk.

The warning comes as the European Commission proposes more co-ordination among European ports, governments and private companies by setting up a "European Ports Alliance", according to a draft of the communication seen by the Financial Times.

One proposal involves setting up common risk criteria and priorities for customs controls at EU level. EUR200 million (US$211 million) will be allocated to fund equipment to scan containers from 2024.

The commission will also urge member states to implement existing security rules for ports, including providing ports and shipping companies with the means to "screen and vet their employees to avoid corruption by criminal networks".

Belgium's port city of Antwerp is the largest cocaine trafficking hub in Europe, with a record of 110 tonnes seized in 2022, according to customs authorities.

Antwerp scans only about 2 per cent of the goods that pass through the port but plans to scan all containers coming from Latin America and considered "high-risk" by 2028. Of those, about 5 per cent are checked at present.

For the shipping industry, the increasing pressure to clamp down on the drug trade risks disrupting the commercial operations of container carriers, which transport millions of steel boxes every week.

Rotterdam port authorities detected eight tonnes of cocaine on a Maersk ship in July at a street value of EUR600 milion, the largest seizure of cocaine in the Netherlands.

Despite growing political consensus to tackle the problem, there are knock-on effects for the global shipping industry from stricter customs controls, experts said.

Richard Neylon, a shipping lawyer at HFW, said it was sometimes "not within the shipowners' power to open and inspect" containers. "[Shipping is essential] for international trade. The risk of drug [smuggling] is a very difficult reason to turn down international trade."