Wellard has announced the sale of the Ocean Outback to an Israeli livestock company. Wellard is feeling the pinch of high cattle prices and soft demand in Indonesia. The EOFY figures will be interesting ....hopefully they won't be able to struggle along for too much longer!!!
Interesting that an Israeli company would buy the boat, with its somewhat dubious mechanical history, at a time when anti-export sentiment in Israel is running at an all time high. Perhaps it will be the downfall of more than one export company.....!
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Onboard video footage from Israel, purportedly recorded in Eilat, March 2017 shows just why animals will continue to suffer and die AFTER unloading.
The footage and cattle coats are consistent with claimed time of year. The images are typical of a voyage of several weeks duration such as Australia to Israel. An Australian ship was recorded in Eilat in March 2017. The coughing animals are classic examples respiratory disease, such as pneumonia or ammonia exposure. Given that people are around and that other cattle are moving, the lethargy and reluctance of recumbent animal to move indicates significant illness. Any animals with respiratory diseases that are then subject to unloading and transportation stresses (and heat stress in different seasons), can easily succumb from their disease. Note: despite the summer coats and low humidity of Eilat (both limiting faecal jacket formation), the faecal coated cattle in this footage are consistent with those in images Dr Lynn Simpson...but according to industry, her voyages are all prior to 2012 so outdated and irrelevant. We know sick animals are unloaded off boats but we never get the figures of how many animals die in the feedlots ie the mortality between voyage and slaughter.
Well finally, we have some figures for at least one voyage and its not pretty. The latest ESCAS report shows that LSS discharged 10,167 cattle at Eilat, Israel between 9 and 11 May 2016. The voyage mortality was a very low 0.47% (48 cattle). However, 38 hospital cases that had been treated for BRD were discharged. In the quarantine that followed, 141 cattle deaths (1.4%) occurred over 24 days in one feedlot, 55 cattle deaths (3.6%) over 18 days in another where the hospital cases were sent. Heat stress and Bos taurus identified as an issue....AGAIN. No doubt about it, both BRD and heat stress cause untold suffering in live export cattle and the extent of the suffering and deaths may not be represented at all in the voyage figures. A new study supposedly debunks myths re LE....so lets look a little closer:
1. Australian Farm Institute is not independent. For all the criticism of previous studies financed by welfare groups - they have been performed by independent "auditors". Getting a publicly pro LE group to analyse LE is analogous to getting the tobacco industry to investigate lung cancer. 2. These seem to be the same old figures re jobs and value in live export. There is an urgent need for a new assessment of the impact of live export vs processing in the current state of low animal numbers. Abattoirs around the country are closing and jobs are disappearing. As for that old 10000 job number that appeared with not a skerrick of evidence but is now regarded as fact..... 3. The claim that live export and processing are separate markets is a very old chestnut and even the industry acknowledges that live export is directly competing for animals with processors in Australia and with Australian meat in overseas markets. (see Ross Ainsworth SE Asian reports on Beef Central). 4. The inflated, unsubstantiated claims about animal welfare are just the usual propaganda. 5. The real question is why did Keogh feel the need to write this in the first place? Why does the whole farming lobby defend live export so vigorously? And when is the productivity commission going to look at this so we can all get independent analysis as to the economic benefit (or otherwise) to Australia. According to Maritime Executive, the port authority in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain has banned the livestock carrier Polaris 2 from anchoring near to the port (at least when loaded) due to the vessel’s foul smell.
Those of us who live in Fremantle can well relate to that especially with ships coming around from Portland and/or Adelaide that "top up" in Freo. Sadly Freo is unlikely to follow suit given Freo Port Authority's stance on LE....they wont let VALE observe on the basis that government observers and regulators are more than up to the task of ensuring compliance and good animal welfare (ho hum). It would be interesting to know, of course, just how often WA and Federal inspections actually occur at Port now there are NO independent observers allowed at Port. Heat stress was the main factor contributing to the latest high mortality voyage due to extreme humidity experienced over several days while transiting the lower Arabian Gulf and discharging at Qatar. Nothing new there....Bader in 2013 for example.
SO what action did the department take? To reduce reducing stocking density of the vessel and LOAD INDUSTRIAL FANS. OMG....are they for real? Wet bulb temperature is WBT and no amount of industrial fans...(placed where? how? using what measure of efficacy?) ...is going to prevent a disaster. And then, it gets even better, the next consignment reported a mortality rate of 1.38% and this was considered fine. Well it isnt....this is still well above the industry average (0.9%) ....and should have been deemed problematic...ie problem has not been fixed. Bottom line is that voyages to the Middle East summer are too risky in terms of animal welfare and must cease. Second bottom line is that despite all AAV (vet) input and expertise, the Department has absolutely NO CLUE about live ex voyages. Well live ex numbers are down and somehow scandals seem to have been diminished or downplayed for the last 6 months…..but don't think everything has magically fixed.
In July last year, Emmanuel Exports Pty Ltd had an absolute shocker voyage, losing 3027 sheep, 4.36% of its load on a voyage from Fremantle to Hamad/Jebel Ali/Kuwait/Muscat (see latest Parliamentary Report). VALE’s port records indicate that the ship was the Al Messilah. Then it looks like Al Shuwaikh (also Emmanuels) lost 1.49% on a voyage from Fremantle to Hamad/Jebel Ali and Kuwait in August-September 2016…under the reportable 2% but still not great when even with the stats skewed upwards by the 4.36% mortality, the total % mortality for the 6 month period was 1.2% (average annual mortality has been 0.9% or less since 2009). And then Otway Livestock/Wellard managed to just sneak under the reportable mortality limit in September-October 2016 with 1.98% sheep mortality on a voyage from Fremantle to Eilat on the “mighty ship” Ocean Drover (formerly MV Becrux). Poor old sheep….they just continue to suffer. Make no mistake, NOTHING has changed for sheep voyages in LE. Voyages with unacceptable mortality continue unabated and sheep continue to suffer on long haul voyages ….mostly on the same old ships…just as they have done for the last 20 years, especially in Middle East summer. After blogging some interesting comments from EFIC yesterday, VALE notes that EFIC have now clarified their position on financing live export ventures to a "case by case" basis. The Weekly Times article on this update reports that EFIC have only financed one loan for live export slaughter and that was a long time ago.
Read more in : http://linkis.com/com.au/JBUex According to the BBC, authorities in Brazil have suspended over 30 government officials in response to allegations that some of the country’s biggest meat processors have been “selling rotten beef and poultry for years”.
The BBC has said that “three meat processing plants have been closed and another 21 are under scrutiny”. While some of the meat produced by the factories is consumed domestically, much of it is exported here to Europe. Brazil is currently the world’s largest exporter of red meat. Perhaps Australia should be jumping into the void....and exporting more meat, less animals. Prime opportunity whilst another country's export meat reputation is in tatters. Just saying...... Read full article here: http://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/brazilian-meat-industry-plunged-into-major-scandal/# According to the Weekly Times, the Federal Government’s export finance credit agency (EFIC) won’t lend money to live exporters because there is “too much cruelty”.
EFIC Victorian state director Phil Smith explained that the as a government agency it had “a lot of reputational risk to manage". "Supporting a business that is exporting livestock, with all the risks and challenges that has, is not acceptable,” Mr Smith said. Classic.....way to go EFIC!!! A government department that sees the situation for what it is. . As for ALEC....perhaps the usual spin just isnt working for them (has it ever?). Seemingly, EFIC has realised that the LE trade has many issues, one of which is its inherently risky nature (Keniry 2003), which would be of concern as a lender. Australia may be the best in the world, but that doesnt make the trade right, good for animals or low risk. And you have to love that line that gets touted ad infinitum re ESCAS, the industry's panacea for animal welfare....it doesnt cover what happens on ships Mr Westaway as you well know! |
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