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Spiridon II left Uruguay with 2901 cattle on board, about half of which were pregnant on September 20, 2025 and was then detained in Turkey from October 22 to November 14 2025. The veterinarian on board left the ship in Turkey. The ship then departed Turkey and after tracking around here there and everywhere often with AIS turned off, the ship docked at Benghazi on November 22 in the afternoon and images show cattle trucks near the vessel. On November 24, it departed Benghazi with no more dead bodies on decks and also no more hay on deck. Presumably no animals left on the ship, either alive or dead....which is a relief for the cattle. Not so great for marine pollution as the sewage and dead carcasses had to go somewhere and the vessels route indicates that the "somewhere" was in the Mediterranean, a special area under MARPOL where carcass disposal is prohibited.
For details of this disaster, read the AWF Press release here. Thought over breakfast:
In 2023, live sheep exports were valued at about $70 million, with nearly 671,000 sheep exported. In 2024, the value dropped to approximately $40.8 million, with only 423,300 sheep exported. AND...half a tonne of cocaine dropped off a single live export ship is worth $170 million on the street. Well it was no surprise, looking at the date of the drug bust and the photos of the ship involved but the livestock carrier at the centre of the drug bust has now been named by the ABC as the Al Kuwait.
Ironic that whilst VALE was writing to DAFF to alert them to biosecurity issues (confirmed by DAFF), the AFP were getting ready to go over the Al Kuwait for its role in drug dropping. Wonder if she'll risk returning to Australia .....could we have witnessed the last sheep ship just slinking off in shame never to return? One can only hope. The ABC reports that police have charged the chief officer of the international livestock carrier, after half a tonne of cocaine was found floating off Western Australia's coast. Members of the public found the large package tied to a floating drum about 30 km offshore near Lancelin, north of Perth, on November 6: the 525-kilogram parcel of cocaine had a street value of more than $170 million. According to the West Australian, police were already investigating suspicious activity by an international livestock carrier in the area when the public reported the discovery. The drugs, were allegedly dumped in the ocean by the livestock carrier while enroute to Fremantle harbour. The West Australian states that just one day after the drugs were seized, police charged the 46 yo chief officer of the livestock carrier (a Croatian national), with attempting to import the drug. An AFP spokesperson said when investigators from the joint organised crime taskforce boarded the ship, they allegedly found a blue drum and ropes which were similar to those found with the cocaine. “It will also be alleged examination of the vessel identified that rails had been removed and reinstalled without welding work permits submitted and that a CCTV camera had been covered while the drugs were allegedly offloaded from the ship,” they said. Definitely not the first time live ex vessels have been caught carrying cocaine (https://www.vale.org.au/blog/drug-trafficking-on-live-ex-ships) with 4.5 tonnes of cocaine seized in Spain in Jan 2023. But....what timing.... with news breaking just 2 days before the live ex conference starts in Perth on 26th Nov. Gold! See: https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/media-release/four-charged-and-about-525kg-cocaine-found-wa-coast See: Monday evening article naming the vessel as the Al Kuwait Fig 1: Police crawling over a livestock vessel in Fremantle - from Australian Border Force image released 24.11.25. Fig 2: Forensics scrutiny of a livestock vessel with Fremantle feed storage sheds in the background - from Australian Border Force; image released 24.11.25   Marine Link has reported that 52-year-old livestock carrier Spiridon II is now supposedly returning to Uruguay after its cargo of over 2,800 cows was rejected by local authorities in Turkey. The US Sun has named it a "floating nightmare".
Translated court transcripts indicate that 58 cows died in transit to Turkey, 140 cows had miscarriages in transit, 50 newborn calves were present on board, but another 90 are unaccounted for. The vessel left Montevideo (Uruguay) on September 19 with 2,901 heifers; the court’s rejection of an appeal means the Spiridon II crew was unable to disembark the animals and they have to go elsewhere. Additional fodder was loaded onto the upper deck of the Spiridon II on November 9 but this would be unlikely to last the full voyage. It is indisputable that late-pregnant heifers were loaded on Spiridon II which would raise the question of whether the consignment was delayed, and heifers that were previously confirmed pregnant but not in the third trimester were in third trimester at the time of actual loading. And did some calve, thus had to be substituted for others with the incorrect ear tags? Only the exporter would know. VALE has done some calcs for pregnant heifers and compared conditions to ASEL: Near-term Holstein heifers should weigh about 420-450 kg. The number of unjoined heifers would be unknown but the possible weights have been calculated as 380, 400 and 420. The minimum pen areas required under ASEL Table 11a are:380 kg - 1.520 m2, 400 kg - 1.668 m2, 420 kg - 1.746 m2. Spiridon II has a useable pen area of 3,885 m2. With 2,901 cattle loaded, the average pen area per head at loading was 1.339 m2. So, for any of the weight assumptions above, the Spiridon would have been overloaded for ASEL (not that Uruguay would follow ASEL): 380 kg - 14% overloaded; 400 kg - 25% overloaded; 420 kg - 30% overloaded. Given the voyage length, it is unlikely that much fodder was onboard by the time that authorities allowed the ship in to load some food in Bandirma. Then with the limited time alongside and night-time loading, it is unlikely that more than couple of hundred MT of fodder was loaded. With 2,843 heifers still alive, plus a few calves, and assuming minimum ASEL requirements, at least 27 MT fodder is required daily, or 216 MT since coming alongside in Bandirma. It is hard to believe that there would be much fodder remaining on board and the hay loaded in Bandirma will not provide the dietary energy and protein required by lactating heifers. In addition to inadequate nutrition, it is not likely that Spiridon II would have the personnel, facilities, equipment or drugs required to provide adequate veterinary care to the pregnant and calving heifers on board. In addition to calving difficulties, acute mastitis would be a real risk with an open teat orifice, dribbling milk and a pen with putrid (if any) bedding. If this vessel is really going back to Uruguay as indicated on marine sites, it will almost certainly be an unparalleled cattle welfare disaster. NOTE: Reportedly 1400 of the cattle have been confirmed to be pregnant. The Spiridon 2 debacle has reignited concern about rejection of cattle shipments on arrival in Turkey.
Turkey has some form when it comes to rejecting cattle consignments - and in every case the ending has been bad.
UPDATE: The 52yo Spiridon II loaded 2,901 cattle in Uruguay, departing on September 19. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry inspected the cattle when the vessel arrived, in Turkey but denied permission to land the animals because a number of the ear tags did not match documentation on the ship. The ship has been permitted to load some food during the standoff but the stats coming out of the Turkish translation thus far appear reportedly show:
- 58 animals died during transport -140 pregnant animals had abortions during the journey - 50 newborn calves were seen on board, but 90 more newborn calves are unaccounted for VALE cannot corroborate this preliminary data without definitive access to the court documents and their translation. According to Maritime Executive, residents are complaining of odors, and animal rights groups are protesting about the welfare of stranded cattle, as Turkish officials continue to deny the offloading of a livestock carrier for more than two weeks.
The 52yo Spiridon II loaded 2,901 cattle in Uruguay, departing on September 19. According to reports in the Turkish media, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry inspected the cattle when the vessel arrived, but denied permission to land the animals because approximately 500 of the ear tags did not match documentation on the ship. This is of enormous concern. Based on 2901 cattle, probably around 350kg (based on number and possible loading weight), then a minimum of 20MT of food would be required daily to meet ASEL's bare minimum of 2% BWT/head/day. This calculates to at least 720 MT for 36 days (34 day voyage with 2 days discharge) or 1020 MT for 51 days. Given the size of the ship, most fodder will be carried as deck cargo so there is no possibility of carrying 1020 MT on this ship (1000MT stored on deck would have stability concerns). These are all complex calculations (done for feeder cattle and not growing dairy heifers, which would be worse again) but the bottom line is a) these cattle will likely have been hungry ever since leaving Uruguay and b) there will be little if any fodder on board now. On top of government rejection, no importer is going to want cattle which will have irreversible changes to rumen flora after having little or no feed for 17 days. Turkish officials should act immediately to rescue and/or euthanase these animals. This is a total tragedy, again highlighting the inherently risky nature of live ex. The Balha One (ex Yangtze Fortune) is due to arrive in Darwin today. The ship was built in China as a container ship, the Sitc Fortune, but has had numerous name and ownership changes since:
1. Sitc Fortune (until 2008). 2. Zaan Trader (until 2014). 3. Wende (until 2016). 4. He Shun No. 2 (until 2017). 5. Yangtze Fortune (until 2023) - after conversion from container to livestock ship 6. Fu Guo (until 2024). 7. Balha One. Yangtze Fortune traded out of Australia and NZ from 2018-2022. In July 2018 the ship had a high mortality voyage with cattle to China and she was subsequently found to have a serious design fault with inadequate drainage of the cattle decks. In November 2020 she was delayed in Napier Port, NZ for several days after the Master advised that the ship's steering gear was defective. In September 2022 a voyage from Portland to China was aborted after a crack was discovered in the hull. Yangtze Fortune then languished at anchor off Portland for several months with unpaid crew. In December 2022 the Australian Federal Court declared the Yangtze Fortune abandoned by its Hong Kong owners and ordered that it be arrested by the Admiralty Marshall and sold to settle outstanding debts. The ship was sold for US$6 million (scrap value) and it sailed away. The ship was then renamed the Fu Guo by its new owners before changing hands yet again and renamed Balha One. It is sailing to Darwin under the flag of convenience of Liberia. Sound familiar???? ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: INDEPENDENT OBSERVER AND MORTALITY REPORTS FOR MV Yangtze Fortune 2018-2019 Report 4: May 2018; Fremantle to Oman; 18 days. Sheep; 0.30% mortality Significant heat stress occurred from Day 5 for an unspecified duration. No mention in IO summary that there were issues with the ventilation and that the AMSA generator was required (in the scientific paper for this voyage). Twin lambs were born but euthanased due to expected high heat in feedlot. The description "heat stress" did not appear in the IO SUMMARY. IO SUMMARY REPORT: see report IO FOI DOCUMENTS: see document VALE COMMENT: see document RELEVANT SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE: VOYAGE A in attached document Report 12: July 2018, MV Yangtze Fortune; Portland to Ningbo (China); 20 days (16 predicted and food for 19); high mortality voyage with 1.51% (33/2192) cattle mortality. Main cause of death heat stress. Heat stress Day 5 to Day 20. Ship infrastructure poor: water and food troughs knocked off, water hoses of domestic use quality (!) so broke/split and no spares, drainage issues etc. AMSA required issues rectified on return."The animals had plenty of space and ventilation was good; there was simply no relief from hot and humid conditions" wrote the AAV (vet) in EOV Report. IO SUMMARY REPORT: see report FOI DOCUMENTS FOR THE VOYAGE: see documents VALE COMMENT: The Department suspended Phoenix’s Approved Arrangement to China, and did not allow them to export until they changed their animal sourcing and plans. Rare move for the Dept indicating severity of the event. MEDIA COMMENT: see live-sheep-export-row-hits-cattle-ship-that-fails-inspection-leaving-fremantle HIGH MORTALITY INVESTIGATION REPORT 74: see report Report 59: December 2018; Portland to Rongcheng (China); 20 days; 0.37% (9/2405) cattle mortality. Same problematic domestic hose fittings with same problems as Report 12. Rough seas and injuries. Extremes of temperature with -10 on unloading. Vet onboard - atypical but likely in response to previous issues. IO SUMMARY: see report VALE: COMMENT: vale_comment_report_59_mv_yangtze_fortune_cattle_to_china.pdf Report 92: March 2019; Fremantle to Huanghua, China; 17 days; no AAV; 0.22% (6/2772) cattle mortality; average DBT 30°C, WBT 26°C until Day 12 when DBT 12°C. Water infrastructure issues again noted for this ship. Mortality causes not ID apart from 2 euthanased as out of spec. No vet. IO SUMMARY: see report VALE COMMENT: see report Report 111: April 2019; MV Yangtze Fortune; Portland to Tianjin; 20 days; 0.12% (6/4769 cattle) mortality. Poor pad conditions with resultant lameness. Faulty water pipes and troughs again noted on this vessel. Food troughs also dislodged. Heat stress (10% slight panting) with WBT 30°C. Long discharge.No vet. IO SUMMARY: see report VALE COMMENT: "Pen conditions deteriorated markedly after the first deck washout on days 8 and 9 and lasted until the second wash out on days 14 and 15 due to faulty water pipes and water troughs, poor pen drainage, and the humid conditions were considered to be the major contributors to poor pen conditions. ...caused lameness in a significant number of animals." Report 128: May 2019; MV Broome to Jakarta and Panjang; 8 days; 0.04% (2/5149) cattle mortality. Infrastructure problems including narrow rail spacing, troughs knocked off. Drainage issues. No vet. IO SUMMARY: see report VALE COMMENT: some pens remained over-stocked for the voyage - ASEL noncompliant. As per previous voyages: troughs were often knocked off the pen rails. This resulted in troughs contaminated with manure or fines. Five pens were noted to have reduced access to feed and water due to narrow spacing between rails which limited placement of water and feed troughs. Crew attempted to fix this issue by placing troughs inside the pens however this reduced pen space and meant it was easier for troughs to be knocked off or soiled. Deck washing on Decks 1-3 occurred on day 4. Deck 1 had significant build-up of water causing animals to stand almost up to their knees in water for in excess of 2 hours. This was due to using multiple hoses on multiple decks to get the cleaning done quickly due to restrictions of effluent discharge in close proximity to land. No sawdust was provided to wet pens after washing. There was not enough sawdust for this purpose because it was required for the discharge. Pen conditions on Deck 1 improved by Day 5 but report implies water took "subsequent days" to drain. Report 152: Jul 2019; MV Yangtze Fortune; Fremantle to Huanghua (China); 16 days; 0.35% (8/2303 cattle) mortality. Incorrect stocking density calculation. No temperature details but necropsy to check for hyperthermia so heat stress likely present and sanitised out of report. No bedding for cattle (ASEL non-compliance not noted). No vet. IO SUMMARY: see report VALE COMMENT: see report NOTE: food and water troughs being knocked off were noted as per previous reports with problem clearly not addressed by AMSA or Dept Report 201: Nov 2019; MV Yangtze Fortune; Portland to Qinzhou; 18 days; 0/4165 cattle mortality. Inadequate food (10 days). Heat stress. Ringworm. Some cattle in poor body condition. Vet onboard. IO SUMMARY: see report VALE COMMENT: see report. Note: The report stated that there were no negative health and/or welfare consequences 5 times in the summary and one of these was when animals reported to be lying prone due to heat stress.Request for documents under FOI denied. Report 210: Dec 2019; MV Yangtze Fortune; Portland to Huanghua, China; 21 days; 0.15% (7/4657). Inadequate food for pregnant cattle (1 animal died of ketosis). Mild heat stress. Stocking density/loadplan issues took 7 days to correct (1/3 voyage). Water leaks (routine for this vessel), drainage issues (routine for this vessel), inadequate ventilation. 11% (500) animals required treatment for ill health; unspecified number of cattle with dermatitis/ringworm reportedly untreated thus >11% animals with health problems. Vet onboard. IO SUMMARY: see report VALE COMMENT: see report; The Dept stated that procedural breaches despite >11% cattle have clinical illness(with 1 animal dying of ketosis) and 11% requiring treatment)? Dept sanitisation at its brilliant best 4 March 2020: VALE wrote to the Department to raise concerns about repetitive issues on voyages specifically noting MV Yangtze Fortune. Analysing the Independent Observer (IO) reports closely, it is very obvious that particular vessels, or particular areas in certain vessels have issues that are noted repetitively. For example, MV Yangtze Fortune has had repeated reports of water infrastructure issues such as clip on domestic hose fittings dislodging or breaking with leaks, flooding and lack of water delivery in addition to troughs being easily displaced due to shape with the issue resulting in food and/or water deprivation and spillage. AND FROM VESSEL TRACKER WEBSITE Aug 15 2018: The AMSA also confirmed it had ordered modifications to be made to the sister ship "Yangtze Fortune" as he vessel was not suited to voyages of more than 10 days. The "Yangtze Fortune" is already at the centre of a investigation by the Federal Agriculture Department after 33 cattle died on a voyage from Victoria to China in July. She arrived in Darwin on Aug 10 and was inspected. The AMSA found drainage holes on livestock decks were not big enough and prevented water draining quickly away from the deck. The ship has been permitted to carry 5000 cattle on a short, one-off voyage from Darwin to Jakarta. |
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