Oh yes and then there is the risk of fire

Fires on ships have dogged the LE trade: Farid Fares (40,605 sheep burnt;1980), Uniceb (67,488  sheep burnt; 1996), Maysora (73000 sheep unharmed; 2011) and Ocean Drover (in port no stock onboard; 2014) just to name a few. And they are just the fires that are known - not all are reported it seems.

And now another one to add to the list: Awassi Express (reportedly not loaded) in Portland. Only took 9 days with 50 or so firefighters on hand at a time to put it out in port.  The difficulties listed included confined spaces, working at heights and the dangerous activities to empty the fuel out of the silo, which includes the production of both combustible gases and gases that would asphyxiate people working around it (not to mention stock if any had been on board). Hey...lucky it wasnt out at a sea with a few Aussie animals on board.

As Keniry (2004) noted, "live export is is uniquely and inherently risky."