Heat on live exports

24 December 2009

AUSTRALIA'S live export industry has once again been forced to defend itself after a former locally owned livestock carrier ship sank off the coast of Lebanon last week.

The ship, Danny FII, was sailing under a Panamanian flag and was reportedly carrying 83 crew, 18,000 cattle and 10,000 sheep.

As of Sunday, 17 bodies had been retrieved, 40 survivors had been found but 26 people remained unaccounted for.

The ship had been travelling from Uruguay to Syria when it ran into a violent storm last Thursday.

Danny FII has not been used for five years by Australian livestock exporters as it reportedly did not meet strict safety regulations.

Livecorp chief executive Cameron Hall described the accident as unfortunate.

"The reason this ship has not taken Australian livestock (for five years) is because it doesn't have a Australian Maritime Safety Authority-approved certificate," he said.

"That is not to say it has been de-registered ... but Australia has the most stringent interpretation of AMSA regulations coupled with the broadest and strictest standards for transport of livestock.

"Australia operates under very strict regulations and uses only the best vessels to export our livestock."

In wake of the incident, RSPCA Australia released a statement condemning live export.

"No amount of regulation will ever make the live animal trade safe or humane," it said.

However, Mr Hall said the comments were self-serving.

"Any of these organisations that are philosophically opposed to live export will use a tragedy like this to place pressure on governments to end live exports," Mr Hall said.

According to the Federal Government, live export mortality rates are less than 1 per cent across cattle, sheep and buffalo.

The Danny FII left Montevideo in Uruguay on November 29 with about 10,000 sheep and almost 18,000 cattle bound for the Syrian port of Tartus, north of Tripoli.

However, it was forced to change course due to bad weather.

According to reports, it was trying to reach Beirut when disaster struck.

Livecorp data shows Australia's live export industry was worth $638 million last year, a 23 per cent increase on 2007.

Almost 870,000 cattle were exported live last year, up 20.7 per cent from 720,000 in 2007.

Sheep export numbers rose 11.7 per cent to 4.2 million head - up from 3.8 million sheep in 2007.

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