SOME long-term sheep suppliers to the live export trade had their first look at the loading of sheep and cattle aboard the Al Shuwaikh at Fremantle Port last week.
WA sheep producers were invited to attend a guided tour along with State and Federal members of parliament as Emanuel Exports, in partnership with the West Australian Livestock Export Association (WALEA) and Sheep Producers Australia, seeks to improve transparency and improve communication along the supply chain.
The vessel was loaded with about 71,000 sheep and 312 cattle and left port on Tuesday night, last week, on its 15-day voyage to Kuwait, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.
The vessel is one of two Al Mawashi – or Kuwait Livestock Transport and Trading (KLTT) owned vessels, along with the Al Messilah, that have been undertaking their usual cycle from Fremantle to the Gulf States since Rural Export and Trading WA (RETWA) was granted an export licence late last year.
The Al Shuwaikh is a twin-tier vessel and will be phased out of service within Australia by January 2020 under new standards imposed on the industry in an effort to improve animal welfare and reduce mortalities.
The Bader III and the Maysora – operated by Livestock Shipping Services will also be phased out then.
Despite the standards impacting on the future of the Al Shuwaikh, the view of sheep producers and farmers was that the vessel appeared adequate to perform its function of transporting sheep.
Federal Member for O’Connor Rick Wilson, also a sheep producer, said it was his first visit and experience on a live export vessel and he encouraged other members of parliament to take up the opportunity presented to learn more about the live export supply chain.
Mr Wilson said it was “quite enlightening to see stock loaded”, with feed and water available.
“In my judgement as a sheep producer there was plenty of room for the animals,” Mr Wilson said.
“There were four accredited vets on the wharf and on board checking the animals as they were loaded.
“About one per cent were pulled out (of the consignment) for various reasons.”
Mr Wilson said it was a great opportunity to “meet a whole lot of people through the supply chain, including members of the crew, vets, stockman and Emanuels employees”.
“I have confidence and trust that they have the best for animal welfare at heart,” he said.
“Maybe in the past it was not open enough, so I think this is a great initiative.”
Trevor McLean, Beverley, said he had been producing sheep for 60 years and it was his first time on board a live export vessel as well.
“It was good,” Mr McLean said.
“Spacing was good, the animals were pretty free on the boat and there was plenty of feed and water.
“The condition of the sheep was also very good.”
Mr McLean said “no one likes to see sheep dying” on vessels but it was no different to losing them on the farm – which he had already experienced this season.
He said given what he saw in terms of animal welfare standards and conditions on the vessel, he would continue to supply to the live sheep trade.
Member for the Agricultural Region Rick Mazza said he also went aboard and his view was that Emanuel Exports (along with RETWA) had shown it was running a “very professional operation” and he “absolutely supported live exports”.
Pastoralists and Graziers Association livestock committee chairman Chris Patmore said it was his second time on board a live export vessel – the first being when as a young farmer he and a friend went aboard a vessel docked at port out of curiosity.
Security was not at the same level as it is today.
“We were stopped by someone on board who asked us what we were doing and we said we were just looking around and so he showed us around the vessel,” Mr Patmore said.
“So it was good to see the process under Emanuel Exports.”
Mr Patmore said he enjoyed the tour last week and was happy with the knowledge sharing and commitment to improved transparency and animal welfare in the industry.
“These tours are an excellent initiative by Emanuels to improve their own reputation and that of the entire live export industry,” Mr Patmore said.
Last month about 30 MPs were invited aboard and more tours are expected.
Emanuel Exports recently employed corporate governance and compliance officer Dr Holly Ludeman who said the tour was different to the previous one which was mainly attended by politicians.
She said it provided an opportunity for farmers to ask questions of the vets, ship’s captain and others in the supply chain and the questions asked were different.
“It has really helped improve the communication flow and the relationships along the supply chain,” Dr Ludemand said.
Dr Ludeman is an Australian Accredited Veterinarian (AAV) who has worked in the industry full-time since 2013.
She recently accompanied a RETWA consignment from Australian to Kuwait and used this opportunity to collect animal welfare data and footage of all parts of the supply chain as part of a transparency project.
“Livestock export is not glamorous,” Dr Ludeman said.
“It can be dirty, dusty and smelly, but it’s not cruel.
“There’s a lot of care and effort that goes onto taking care of livestock throughout the supply chain, and I think it is important that people understand and see this first-hand.
“Livestock export provides a valuable protein and food source to our trading partners, and we want to show this can be done well with good processes and animal care at the forefront of everything we do.”
Information and experiences of her recent voyage to Kuwait were presented as part of the tour to demonstrate real-time conditions, daily routines and general day-to-day realities of a livestock voyage from her first-hand experiences.
The tour was planned as part of a transparency project Emanuels began in December.
Emanuel Exports managing director Nicholas Daws said this tour was important for key decision makers and suppliers to better understand the trade.
“We want to be more open and for the community to understand the valuable contribution sheep producers and exporters combined make not just to WA agriculture, but to providing protein and food security to our valued trading partners,” Mr Daws said.
“I’m convinced this trade can be done in a sustainable way with good animal welfare at the forefront.”
The site tour is part of a series of planned transparency events Emanuels wants to facilitate to provide trust and transparency around live sheep exports.
RETWA, as the exporter of the consignment for the importer, KLTT, has welcomed the transparency.
The Al Shuwaikh vessel is owned and operated by KLTT which imports between 1.2 - 1.5 million sheep from Australian each year.
The last voyage undertaken by KLTT to the Arabian Gulf recorded a 99.7 per cent delivery success for sheep (0.3pc mortality rate from a total 69,917 sheep onboard), 312 cattle arrived with 100pc success.
KLTT has invested more than US$500m into its supply chain infrastructure, including recent major items such as a new vessel under construction for US$100m and new state of the art processing facility in Kuwait City.
p A story in last week’s Farm Weekly said the RSPCA had questioned the value and independence of the newly-instigated Independent Observer reports within the live export industry.
It should have said the RSPCA supports the value of getting access to government observer reports from live export ships that left Australia from April to June last year.
The RSPCA has spent up to $1700 in Freedom of Information processing fees to only get partial access to the reports, that distilled eight, two to four-week journeys, 184 days at sea and around 2500 hours of observation into written reports and around 83 photographs of sick, dead and dying sheep.
RSPCA Australia senior policy officer Jed Goodfellow said the conditions described and photographed in the documents represented the industry on its best behaviour “and yet, once again, we see conditions that would absolutely horrify the average Australian and the average sheep farmer”.
