Seventy-one shipping containers filled with Amazon rainforest timber have been retained at the Port of Houston since September in an international controversy over alleged illegal logging in Peru.

The valuable hardwood from one of the world's largest forests weighs 3.8 million pounds and is enough to cover several football fields.

Under Peruvian law, every log taken from the Amazon rainforest must be registered and identified by GPS coordinates to establish the location where it was harvested before it can be properly permitted for export. Peruvian officials have alleged that at least some of the lumber that arrived in Houston was exported with faulty paperwork, according to Lima press reports and interviews with officials involved in the matter.

In Peru, protests erupted when officials attempted to take further action after the same ship that brought lumber to Houston returned to the port city of Iquitos to reload in late November. Last week, coffins with the names of Peruvian inspectors were dragged through the streets there.

In Houston, U.S. Customs officials said they have "excluded" the timber, meaning it cannot be legally allowed into the United States, Yolanda Choates, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement. Customs issued that declaration, she said, after officials were unable to determine whether the wood had been brought into port legally under the Lacey Act, a federal law designed to fight illegal logging worldwide by holding U.S. importers accountable.

'Rampant fraud'

So far, the wood has not been the subject of a federal civil forfeiture order under any of the U.S. laws that target contraband - nor have any criminal charges been filed, U.S. court records show. But the case remains under review by multiple federal agencies. In 2006, the World Bank described illegal logging in Peru as a pervasive problem carried out by criminal networks that operate in collusion with corrupt state officials. The bank concluded Amazon timber trafficking was facilitated and amplified by an enormous no-questions-asked demand for tropical lumber from global markets.

In response, the Environmental Investigation Agency, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, issued "The Laundering Machine," a report that exposed the use of bogus permits both by the Peruvian wood export industry and by import companies. One of the exporters named in the report is involved in the Houston shipment.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, a leading proponent in Congress for rainforest protection, said he fought to expand the Lacey Act in 2008 to crack down on imports of illegally harvested wood. "Peru's forestry officials have documented rampant fraud in wood exports," he said. "With significant shipments of Peruvian wood entering the United States, most recently in the port of Houston, it is clear this situation requires coordinated attention from all U.S. agencies responsible for enforcement of the Lacey Act. The United States must support the Peruvian government's efforts and act decisively to stop trade in illegal wood from Peru."

Customs records show that four different U.S.-based wood importers have a claim to some of the excluded timber in Houston, according to public shipping documents that are tracked by a private company. A representative of a trade association that is representing at least some of exporters declined comment, as did the individual U.S. importers.

The importers are now appealing Customs' decision to "exclude" the wood.

Meanwhile, other federal agencies continue to weigh taking further legal action in federal court.

"We believe this is an amazing binational cooperation," said Julia Urrunaga, an investigator who works for the Environmental Investigation Agency in Lima. "Peru can do its part and the U.S. can do its part. This would be a joint operation and a joint success."

Roberto Melgar, managing director for the Peruvian Amazon Line, the shipping company that brought the timber to Houston, said he supports reforms in Amazon timber export procedures. But he said he fears that the dispute over the timber in Houston could harm the Peruvian Amazon region's economy.

Bogus permits

Melgar said that the Yacu Kallpa, the ship that transported the wood, was allowed to leave Peru for Houston because it had all the required export permits issued by the Peruvian Customs authority for its cargo.

The Peruvian Amazon Line shipping company was established in 1970 and has been shipping wood from the Amazon to Texas via Mexico for decades. The company's ships also carry oilwell supplies, materials and equipment for the oil exploration and production on return voyages to Iquitos. Melgar emphasized his company is not accused of wrongdoing because company officials believed that export paperwork issued by Peruvian authorities was in order.

But he said longtime customers both in the U.S. and in Peru are affected. He confirmed importers are appealing the customs exclusion order. In the meantime, he said, timber orders are down to less than 10 percent of regular shipments.

Information from a private database that tracks imports and exports shows ships run by Peruvian Amazon Line have made about 37 different trips to Houston from 2007 and have moved at least 1,500 different shipments of wood, timber and other wood products from the port City of Iquitos to Houston and to Texas, typically for the same core group of importers and exporters, according to a Chronicle analysis. The latest shipment was declared to be worth about $300,000. Over time, millions of dollars' worth of wood has been moved to the U.S. via Houston.

For the last two years, Peruvian federal inspectors have tried to audit the authenticity of Amazon wood export permits, partly in response the reports issued by the World Bank and Environmental Investigation Agency.

The Peruvian government's own research in 2014 confirmed that most export permits were bogus - they specify areas logged long in the past or that had never been logged or identified the wrong tree locations.

The government audit confirmed the problem remained widespread and uncovered issues with some exporters, including one that has regularly shipped wood to Houston.

Taking 'due care'

Alexander Von Bismarck, executive director of Environmental Investigation Agency, said he finds it hard to believe the U.S. importers involved in the Houston shipment were unaware of the lumber export permit problems.

But it was after the Yacu Kallpa had already left Iquitos bound for Mexico and then for Houston that Peruvian federal inspectors apparently informed their U.S. counterparts that at least some of the lumber in the massive shipment had not actually been taken from the forest areas identified in its export permit paperwork, according to Melgar and others affected by dispute.

The U.S. importing companies are based in Las Vegas, Miami, Turks & Caicos Island and Philadelphia, customs records show.

The Yaku Kallpa returned to Peru after its September stop in Houston. But in late November, Peruvian officials seized part of the wood that the ship had attempted to load for another trip. Peruvian officials have claimed that they found similar paperwork problems.

Under the Lacey Act, U.S. importers of wood are required to take "due care" to avoid illegally logged wood, said Von Bismarck. "The question will be have you taken 'due care' to assess the illegality of wood coming out of Peru, in light of the fact that is a hotbed of illegal logging and this particular scam has been widely reported for three years."