A French flagged ship carrying illegal timber form the Amazon forest. The timber of Ipe, is to be unloaded and transported later to Belgium, to two timber trading companies "Lemahieu" and “Omniplex” . The timber is sold to them by another company in Belgium, "Leary Forest Products", on behalf of Brazilian sawmill and exporter "Rainbow Trading".
Rainbow Trading has been exposed by Greenpeace a few weeks ago for trading in illegally logged timber in the Amazon. Buying from companies like Rainbow Trading is risky business and could be the tip of the iceberg in terms of Amazon destruction reaching foreign shores. In fact, it is possible there is more timber from Rainbow Trading onboard this ship which will enter the market in other countries. The containers offloaded today will be transported to Belgium. The ship, will continue on to the UK next and could be bringing more Amazon destruction there with it.
Greenpeace contacted all the companies buying timber coming from Rainbow Trading, to make sure they knew what they were getting into by doing business with forest criminals. Companies are required by law to keep risky timber out of the EU market. Doing that while bringing timber from sawmills like Rainbow Trading into Europe seems impossible. And too often, the official documentation used by loggers in the Brazilian Amazon is not worth the paper it is written on. These documents might be official but they are being used to launder illegal timber.
Greenpeace contacted all the companies buying timber coming from Rainbow Trading, to make sure they knew what they were getting into by doing business with forest criminals. Companies are required by law to keep risky timber out of the EU market. Doing that while bringing timber from sawmills like Rainbow Trading into Europe seems impossible. And too often, the official documentation used by loggers in the Brazilian Amazon is not worth the paper it is written on. These documents might be official but they are being used to launder illegal timber.
The Dutch authorities failed to stop this timber and the containers carrying timber from the Amazon will continue on to Belgium. This is not a good sign, and a clear failure of the European law that should prevent illegal logging to enter into the European market.