AUSTRALIA’S peak livestock exporter body has rejected suggestions by Vets Against Live Exports that exporting live sheep by sea to Morocco was unrealistic.

WA exporters were recently told Morocco can take up 100,000 sheep per year, with potential for growth.

During a visit by a Moroccan delegation recently, the Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council said there are plenty of vessels that can service the Moroccan market and industry would make an evidence based assessment based on risk to determine appropriate shipping timeframes.

However, Vets Against Live Export spokesperson Dr Sue Foster last week suggested that live exports to Morocco are unrealistic due to the shipping distance and availability of suitable ships.

She said the distance to market with very long sailing times is a significant commercial obstacle that would be likely to be prohibitive for live sheep exports from Australia to Morocco.

In her ‘fact-checking’ media release Dr Foster said given there are not enough livestock ships meeting Australian maritime standards that are available to service long-standing customers in the Arabian Gulf States, it is difficult to envisage that these ships would be committed to a much longer voyage to Morocco.

“Any route through the Suez Canal also has an additional and very expensive transit fee.

“In addition, regulatory compliance costs are much higher than for Australian sheep than for sheep exported from Europe,” Dr Foster said.

“Australia does not have the ships needed to service existing live sheep customers in the Arabian Gulf States.

“Now is a period of peak demand, in the lead up to Ramadan starting late February, but since the start of this year there has been only one consignment of sheep exported from Australia to the Arabian Gulf – on a 45 year-old ship that was converted to carry livestock thirty years ago, at the end of its life as a car carrier,” she said.

“Given there are not enough livestock ships meeting Australian maritime standards that are available to service long-standing customers in the Arabian Gulf States, it is difficult to envisage that these ships would be committed to a much longer voyage to Morocco.

“By contrast, there are at least 40 livestock ships trading around the Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic, able to take sheep from Europe to Morocco,” Dr Foster said.

“Many are very old ships with much lower operating costs than a livestock ship that meets Australian maritime standards.

“With a very long distance to market and minimum to no shipping available, there appears to be no credible chance of a sustainable live export trade to Morocco.

“As such, farmers should not be pinning their hope on a new Australian live export trade to Morocco,” Dr Foster concluded.

VALE doesn’t have a clue – ALEC

However, Australian Livestock Exporters Council chief executive officer Mark Harvey-Sutton said VALE’s mission is to stop live exports.

“They are not involved in commercial shipping.

“They do not export livestock and they have not been privy to any discussions with the Moroccan Government and importers,” he said.

“While it was nice of them to google shipping distances and livestock export numbers from Europe and send it to you, quite frankly they don’t have a clue about the likelihood of exports to Morocco commencing and I recommend you put it in the bin.”

20 vessels certified by AMSA for livestock

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority is responsible for the safe operation and mechanical standards of ships that carry livestock as cargo from Australian ports.

The authority said there are currently, there are 20 ships certified by AMSA for the carriage of livestock, though this compares to 32 AMSA-certified vessels five years ago.

AMSA said the livestock vessel standards are made under the Navigation Act 2012 and are contained in Marine Order 43 (Cargo and cargo handling – livestock) 2006.

The authority said it has high safety standards for livestock ships and takes its responsibility for enforcing these seriously. Ships that fail to meet these standards are not permitted to carry livestock from Australia.

Ships that intend to carry livestock from an Australian port are subject to a livestock pre-loading inspection by AMSA and must have a valid Australian Certificate for the Carriage of Livestock, AMSA said. If the ship fails to meet the high safety standards enforced by AMSA, it may not be permitted to load livestock until those deficiencies are rectified.