Yet another disaster at sea proves these journeys are just too risky
There has been yet another deeply concerning situation regarding a livestock vessel full of cattle and sheep. The Express M departed from Romania for Haifa on Saturday 22nd February at 14:30, with 2400 cattle and 460 sheep on board. Shortly after departure, the vessel stopped and went to anchor for several days before resuming its journey at an abnormally slow speed of 3–4 knots, significantly below its normal sailing speed. We were liaising with our colleagues at Israel Against Live Shipments, as Irish cattle are often in these shipments, and thought there must be something wrong with the engine.
There then proceeded several days of stopping, going to anchor for a while, then setting off again at a very slow speed. At one point the Express M seemed to be going back to Romania but then it changed course again. After this had been going on for 9 days we were concerned about the animals on board so contacted the Romanian authorities who told us that shortly after leaving the port the engine of livestock vessel Express M broke down due to some mechanical problems. The captain was instructed to return the vessel to port in order to load more feed onto it. However, the transporter’s representative contacted the captain who confirmed that the necessary repairs were carried out and that sufficient feed was onboard, supplemented in Istanbul.
History of issues
The necessary repairs clearly were not carried out – the vessel went to anchor on two more occasions after that and the journey took 15 days instead of six! The Express M is a very old vessel, built in 1983, and has a history of issues. In 2020 it came to Ireland to collect cattle but was detained at Belview Port Waterford due to a number of deficiencies. The Irish authorities revoked the certificate of approval and it left empty. There have been four other detentions in recent years and it should have it’s certificate of approval, that was supposedley issued in Bulgaria, revoked. Our searches have been unable to uncover the certificate so there are questions around that also.
Fifteen days of suffering at sea
This case once again demonstrates that live animal transport by sea is inherently unsafe and must be phased out as a matter of urgency in the ongoing revision of the transport regulation. These sea journeys are too risky and should be banned. We cannot guarantee the safety of animals once they have left our shores and time and time again serious incidents occur, where thousands of animals are stranded at sea, suffering appallingly. The condition of the animals arriving at Haifa port was very poor – footage shows animals completely caked in manure, there is a lot of nasal discharge and ringworm. Of course there have been many shipments from Ireland that are this long, for example it takes 14 days to get to Turkey and 16 to Jordan, and the animals suffer equally as much. This particular case was made worse because the crew were not prepared for such a long journey as it took more than twice as long as was scheduled.
An open letter was today sent to the European Commission and Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, Olivér Várhelyi, calling on him to look into this matter. These animals should not have been put at risk like this. Why didn’t the vessel return as soon as the engine failed the first time? Why was it allowed to be used in the first place, the certificate of approval should be revoked, if it has one!
Young Irish bulls left suffering at Spanish ports
And it’s not just the sea journey that is an issue. On 24th February three trucks full of young dairy bulls were discovered outside Cartagena port in Spain by inspectors from the Animal Welfare Foundation – many with Irish ear tags. They had likely been exported to Spain as unweaned calves. The trucks had arrived at 4:00 am and were stopped in front of the Port of Cartagena for exceeding the permitted number of hours of driving. The trucks were in the full sun and the animals were left without food or water for 10 hours, breaching EU legislation on the protection of animals druing long distance transport. It was 30 degress that day.
They had travelled from fattening farms in the Huesca province in the north of Spain and were due to be loaded onto livestock vessel Nader-A along with around 400 more young bulls and 5,000 sheep, for a shipment to Libya. The Nader-A is another old vessel with a problematic history of deficiencies and detentions.
This was also not an isolated incident as teams from the Animals Welfare Foundation have documented several occasions where trucks full of animals have been left waiting to load for hours in the heat, even in the summer when temperatures can exceed 40 degrees. Bulls with Irish ear tags are often seen amongst them. Spain is the second largets market for Irish bull calves, with 55,000 exported there last year. You can read more here: Animals suffering at the port of Cartagena
Brutal slaughter
We must also remember that these animals are being shipped to countries that are drought ridden, that have appalling animal welfare standards and very little in the way of legislation. Whether they are going for breeding, fattening, to boost the dairy sector or for immediate slaughter, these animals will all face a brutal shackle and hoist slaughter where they will die in agony and sheer terror. We recently joined a number of NGOs in presenting a new film at EU parliament in Brussels, to highlight the practices in North Africa and the Middle East. It makes grim viewing, but you can watch it here: Live Exports: Beyond Borders, Beyond Imagination
It doesn’t matter how regulated this industry is, suffering is inherent and there is no way to do it humanely. As EU policy makers work on the transport legislation, they must seriously consider phasing out sea transport, these journeys just carry too much risk.
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