Exporter linked to missing ship received reprimand
As the search for the livestock ship missing off Japan continues, The Weekly Times can reveal the Australian-based exporter associated with the voyage was last year reprimanded by the Federal Government.
THE Australian-based exporter associated with a shipment of dairy heifers feared lost off the coast of Japan was last year reprimanded by the Federal Government over system and control breaches.
The Weekly Times understands the Panama-registered Gulf Livestock 1 was on a contract voyage for the Melbourne-based Australasian Global Exports from Napier in New Zealand to China when it went missing on Wednesday with more than 5800 dairy heifers and 43 crew on board.
It is believed the ship capsized while travelling in the East China Sea near Japan’s Amami Oshima Island in an area affected by Typhoon Maysak. A search effort is underway for the ship and its crew, which includes 25-year-old Queensland veterinarian Lukas Orda.
One crew member, 45-year-old Filipino Eduardo Sareno, was pulled from the sea. He reportedly told rescuers that the ship stalled and capsized after being hit a powerful wave. The vessel is owned by Middle East interests. The New Zealand Government has suspended live cattle exports in the wake of the incident.
This week’s incident comes 12 months after the Department of Agriculture issued Australasian Global Exports with a reprimand following “an investigation into the sourcing and preparation of a consignment of livestock for export to the People’s Republic of China in August 2019”.
“The Department was not satisfied that the AGE consignment met the importing country requirements and took immediate action to stop the export in 2019 when issues came to the Department’s attention,” the department said in a statement.
“The Department found that at the time of sourcing the consignment, AGE did not have sufficient systems or controls in place to ensure that livestock sourced for export met the importing country requirements. At the time, AGE was not able to identify and address irregularities in the timelines relating to the collection, and submission for testing, of blood samples from livestock in the consignment.”
The Weekly Times has contacted Australasian Global Exports executive procurement director Graeme Turner for comment.
According to its website, “the directors of Australasian Global Exports first formed a live-export business in 2005 and have grown to be largest exporter of breeding livestock globally”. “Over the last 10 years using both sea and airfreight, we have successfully exported over half a million high value beef and dairy livestock around the world from Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay, Europe and the United States of America to various markets in the Middle East, Russia, China and other Asian countries,” the website says. “Australasian Global Exports knowledge of the export industry throughout the world is unsurpassed in the industry and this qualifies Australasian Global Exports as one of the most experienced and safest exporters in the world”.
Australasian Global Exports said it owned three registered properties in Victoria’s Gippsland and Western District regions while its subsidiary, Australasian Global Dairies, also owns dairy farms in Victoria.
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