Ship Quarantined Off Guam After Spiders Discovered On Board
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Here is one of those calls that comes in where no one volunteers to go. You wouldn’t need to have arachnophobia to want to steer clear of this mess. I’m interested to see how the shipping company resolves it. Maybe a team of kitted up Orkin men with serious pesticide? I can honestly say I wouldn’t want to be the one to go on board and verify it’s clear. |
Port employees in Guam received a shocking surprise as they began unloading cargo from the M/V Altavia. The ship, which came to Guam by way of Korea, was carrying housing units and accessories for the Ukudu Workforce Village. Port employees soon discovered the ship was carrying more than what was shown on its manifest. Hundreds to thousands of spiders started to crawl out of the cargo as it was unloaded. Port employees attempted to catch some of the spiders, but there were quite a few that got away. The ones that were caught were delivered to the Department of Agriculture for analysis.
“When the stevedores began unloading the equipment on the dock they noticed hundreds of spiders and thousands of the smaller ones that were swarming around the ship and on the dock side. our workers notified port police who contacted customs and they notified us to stop operations, put the cargo back on the ship and send it out. currently the ship is out in quarantine being anchored out in the apra harbor area awaiting instructions from customs. Preliminary findings based on our tests at the facility has indicated that it does not occur or is not found on Guam at all. Of the protocols that we have in place to address these problems we both feel that the best course of action is to turn the ship around. there are those who would say you could do fumigation but try to put a tarp over the boat. Then you get Coast Guard and EPA involved. then there are those that would say surface spray but the small one can hide in any corner on the engine room and any place on that ship.”
The ship will still be allowed to return to the port, but only after it has been cleared of all infestation.
Although the spider has been confirmed as being foreign to Guam, the exact species is yet to be determined. Like other species, like the coqui frog and the rhino beetle, the spider poses a potential threat to Guam’s ecosystem.
Filed Under: Crimes • Environmental • News
