Day 20 of sailing and voyage duration (under ASEL) of at least 21 days (includes days of loading). ETA is still unchanged for Karachi (15.2). With the lack of bulk storage on this vessel, accurate voyage duration prediction is critical. ASEL only mandates for 3 extra days....how many days were predicted for this small vessel  with its very limited deck space for fodder storage? The initial Karachi ETA was 14.2, now 15.2....

Position: N 15° 48' E 071° 22'
Speed: 10.0 kn
Time: 12.02.2024 4:45 AEST

After 7 days bobbing around Fremantle, Australian sheep and cattle are finally back into Fremantle Port. This voyage, under ASEL definitions will have been at least 40 days - 2 days loading plus 38 days of sailing - and thats before unloading is completed, likely at least another 2 days. Forty two days! This will be the longest voyage for sheep in decades.
These animals should be suitable rested and then processed in Australia. They should not have to endure ever having to go on a ship again. Most animal welfare experts would agree that even once is too much. Twice would be barbaric....especially after what they have already been through.

VALE is grateful that the Acting Assistant Secretary for Plant and Live Animal Exports, Welfare and Regulation Division (Andrew McDonald) rejected approval for re-export and for the transparency of the Reasons. However the comment  about the extra wool length for the sheep not being a problem going to a Northern Hemisphere winter is somewhat concerning.  The only way a sheep can get from Australia to the Northern Hemisphere winter is across the Equator which is hot and humid all the year around. This cannot be mitigated thus why ASEL has a wool length stipulation despite no voyages of sheep going to a Northern Hemisphere Summer any more.

Another daily update on ship position and speed remembering it needed to maintain an average of 11.5 knots to make it to Pakistan by the most direct route in the original estimated time (2024-02-14 15:30 LT (UTC +5)), changed on Day 2 of the sea voyage to 2024-02-15 08:00 LT (UTC +5), changed on Day 4: 2024-02-15 12:00 LT (UTC+5). 

N 05° 24' E 078° 54'
Speed: a surprising 12.0 kn
Last seen: 09.02.2024 9:01pm AEST
ETA unchanged despite having an average speed of 10 knots for a number of days.

Updates: ship still off Fremantle, moving north (to throw over the dead?), animals still on board (Day 37) and Dept has provided their reasons for refusal of re-export.

See: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/about/news/mv-bahijah-live-updates

35 days on and Australian sheep still sit on the Bahijah, not going anywhere, waiting to unload with ultimate fate unknown.
VALE has called for onshore processing as soon as feasible but there is no doubt that the exporters and livestock industry just want to truck these animals to a feedlot, let them spell a few days (enough to probably get over the trucking and endure a re-trucking) and then reload them...to send them around the Cape (35 days or so).
Fortunately, a number of media articles are now drawing attention to the plight and spelling it out. One of the most insightful is that of experienced former live export veterinarians Dr Lynn Simpson in Splash 24/7. Dr Simpson is one of the few live export veterinarians who has ever done the trip with livestock around the Cape. Her observations from that voyage are crucial.
Narelle Towie from The Guardian has also drawn attention to the fact that these animals will be unloaded in more blistering WA heatwave conditions.
The only appropriate solution for animal welfare is to get them off ASAP, in the coolest conditions possible and then take them to somewhere where they can recover before local processing. And if that costs the exporter....well so be it. The Australian live export industry has made more than enough money out of animal suffering. Now they should cough up and do the right thing... their insurance will likely be bearing the cost anyway.

Also see:
https://www.marinelink.com/news/concern-raised-australian-sheep-511362

Position: S 02° 33' E 085° 44'
Speed:11.0 kn
Max speed:
Last seen:
07.02.2024 2:05PM AEST

ETA unchanged. At least going a tad faster...?

Another daily update on ship position and speed remembering it needs to maintain an average of 11.5 knots to make it to Pakistan by the most direct route in the original estimated time (2024-02-14 15:30 LT (UTC +5)), changed on Day 2 of the sea voyage to 2024-02-15 08:00 LT (UTC +5), changed on Day 4: 2024-02-15 12:00 LT (UTC+5). 

Time: 06.02.24 6:07pm AEST
Position: S 05° 10' E 087° 60'
Speed: 10 kn at that time...faster than it was going this morning

The animals on the Bahijah are still to get their reprieve as loading of other live export ships takes precedence in Fremantle....so they sit on the ship and wait. But even when they do get off, WA Farmers Livestock Council president Geoff Pearson apparently confirmed to Sheep Central that the plan is still to prepare the sheep and cattle for re-export to Israel after resting on shore for at least 5-10 days:  "hopefully we can offload the livestock and start preparing them for their re-export.”

This, at the time farmers want to drum up sympathy is not going to go down well. Every peer-reviewed article on live animal transport demonstrates the cumulative stresses, adverse animal welfare outcomes and increased disease risk with long journeys. Even trucking fresh, pasture-held sheep without water for 48h in perfect conditions with controlled trucking around Armidale (Fisher and colleagues) knocked the animals about so badly that it took a week to regain bodyweight. 34 days on a floating multi-story car-park is quite a different story. 5 days break would be outright animal cruelty. 10 days break not much better. If this industry wants public respect and social licence then they need to stop demonstrating their ignorance of, or indifference to, animal welfare.

Breaking news is that the Dept has just announced that the application submitted on 26 January 2024 for the re-export of livestock onboard the MV Bahijah to Israel via the Cape of Good Hope has not been approved.

See: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/about/news/mv-bahijah-live-updates :

"The departmental regulator was unable to be satisfied, in accordance with subsection 8-6(3) of the Export Control (Animals) Rules 2021 (Rules), that:
 1. the requirements of the Export Control Act 2020 (Act) in relation to the export of livestock have been complied with, or will be complied with before the livestock are imported into the importing country, and
2. the importing country requirements relating to the livestock have been met, or will be met before the livestock are imported into the importing country, and
3. the arrangements for the transport of the livestock to their final overseas destination are appropriate to ensure their health and welfare."