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.

• Elbeik - December 2020, loaded 1,800 bulls in Spain. Rejected on arrival in Turkey because of bluetongue. There was an outbreak of bluetongue in Spain at the time, but not in the area from which the bulls were reported to have come, and no clinical signs of bluetongue in the cattle. Elbeik sailed around the Mediterranean for ten weeks, but a country could not be found to take the cattle. Mortalities steadily increased (not bluetongue) and the ship eventually returned to Spain where the surviving cattle were discharged and euthanased on the wharf.
  
•  Karim Allah - December 2020, loaded 864 young cattle in Spain. Similar history to Elbeik and similar outcome - return to Spain where the surviving cattle were discharged and euthanased on the wharf.
  
• 2024 - Many trucks loaded with cattle held up for days/weeks at the Bulgarian-Turkish border. The death of 69 pregnant dairy heifers from Germany, held in trucks for weeks at the Turkish border was a high-profile exposé by European animal welfare groups.
• 2025 - Spiridion 2.

A consignment of Australian cattle rejected on arrival in Turkey (for whatever reason or lack of reason) would not be able to return to Australia and would have no more chance of finding another country willing to accept the cattle than the Elbeik, Karim Allah or Spiridon 2. DAFF should be watching this space closely...but one could be reasonably certainly they wont! No doubt they have some watertight Memorandum of Understanding...watertight still it starts leaking. 

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 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.

The Al Kuwait, which has previously travelled with livestock from Brazil to Iraq before coming back to Fremantle has been allowed to berth with animal faeces from washdown to portside evident on the vessel exterior. An eagle-eyed vet spotted the manure slick and notified DAFF Biosecurity. Response? The ship was turned during the night with some attempt at cleaning the exterior IN FREMANTLE PORT. The normal response is to send a vessel back out to sea to thoroughly clean down before returning with re-inspection.
Dont worry about the live export ban farmers? Worry about biosecurity. This ship could potentially be carrying any number of exotic diseases. If the ship is immaculately clean on the inside, then possibly not such a concern. But if it isnt, then there is a possibility of stock handlers carrying disease on their boots from the ship to Australian soil and the possibility of sheep picking up disease (eg sheep pox from Iraq or FMD) on the ship, getting disease en route to destination, being rejected at destination port and a major biosecurity incident that could trash Australia's reputation and potentially cause a shut down of wool trade, meat trade, skin trade etc.
Regardless, it should never have been cleaned down in Fremantle Port (ie on Australian soil) and port cam photos overnight show it did not have sufficient time to go out to sea and come back overnight. 
See photos below from 1st November with obvious slick and then ship turned around with less somewhat cleaned slick  on 2 November. Not impressive DAFF!

When asked by Sheep Central whether Somalian live export has benefited by the Australian ban (which hasnt even started!), former Wellard director and chief executive officer Mauro Balzarini stated that he did not believe the Somalia situation is only or predominantly caused by the Australian ban. “Somalia has always been a significant exporter of sheep and they export a very different type of sheep which serve different sector of the market. The lingering ban had a minor impact."

He then went on to say: “Sheep price are firm now in Australia despite the looming ban, because there are other market forces that play a much more important role than live export in driving sheep farming profits.

But he was extremely critical of the Australian live export industry with these quotes:
- "the industry is not helping itself when I see ships that are 40 years old, and therefore intrinsically unsafe, still loading in Australia." (how many times has VALE said the same?)
- “It definitely did not show any serious commitment to innovating and securing the industry. The last new building ship of significant size is still the last one I built in 2016 (now called Al Kuwait), over 9 nine years ago" (ditto)
- “If I were still involved in the trade, I would support the ban because I am afraid that another disaster on a sheep shipment would mean the end of the whole live export industry including cattle, which are far more important than sheep.
- “I now live in NZ and as you know there is total ban of livestock export from here caused by a major disaster (that was a disaster waiting to happen)” (as per VALEs analysis)
- “Having said that, a better approach to safeguard the industry would have been a more stringent regulation, with a 20-year age limit on ships (BHP impose that for transport of iron ore!), a higher standard for livestock service on board, lower loading density and a serious vetting process for all companies involved in the trade.” (as per VALEs request for the last 14 years)

So there we have it....direct from the mouth of one the industry's former leading players in Australia. 

A comprehensive independent investigation by Bloomberg into the tragic sinking of the GL 1 with the loss of 40 lives (including an Australian vet and stockman) and all cattle (5867 dairy heifers) has just been aired. In addition to the litany of mechanical problems exposed previously by VALE and others, Bloomberg found an email from the captain just before the vessel arrived in Napier to ask what to do about the fact that the AMSA generator (mandatory for live export from Australia to ensure back up power) was not working. And that was just the tip of the iceberg for an unstable converted carrier with poor maintenance and repetitive engine problems owned by a company in financial difficulties that did well out of the insurance when it sank. Of course not helped by NZ (and other) exporters being able to weigh their cattle without food and water so they could cram more on the boat (curfew weight does not equal real weight especially if on entrance to feedlot 30 or so days before voyage in growing cattle!) and insufficient fodder for the voyage ...and...and...and...

But regardless, just add that one to the Barkly Pearl, expelled from Australia after AMSA found a raft of unacceptable defects investigating the loss of a hull plate near Geraldton  just two months after being espoused by the live export industry as a state of the art ship, and now the Al Messilah. Al Messilah has been one of the main carriers of  sheep from Fremantle for decades and just quietly, in 2025, without any notice, and after months of repair in Chinese shipyards, it too has been banned from Fremantle (and by extension Australia) for repetitive lack of attention to maintenance problems leading to mechanical breakdown, exacerbated by the same heat and humidity that makes it so miserable for the sheep. Just lucky that it broke down each time empty and near Fremantle port. 

Its no secret that the live export fleet is the one of the oldest and worst maintained shipping fleet in the world. Australia is lucky it has AMSA. There is no such luck for animals or crew trading out of other countries. However even AMSA failed to detect the magnitude of serious problems in the Barkly Pearl before a hull plate loss led to a detailed close inspection in port. Bloomberg noted that the emails  that they had unearthed had not been supplied to the Panama investigation of the sinking by the shipping companies involved.The murky world of live export shipping just exacerbates the murky non-transparent nature of the whole live export trade.

See also the Bloomberg video - which shows the email - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2025-10-07/a-dangerous-corner-of-the-global-shipping-industry-video. 
Note: the Bloomberg article: (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-10-08/gulf-livestock-1-tragedy-leaves-brutal-legacy-on-overseas-animal-trade) is only available by subscription and contains extra and complimentary information to that in the video.

See also: https://www.vale.org.au/blog/gulf-livestock-1-owner-likely-insolvent-when-ship-sunk
See also: https://www.vale.org.au/blog/archives/03-2023
See also: ATSB incident report filed under Communication, maintenance practices highlighted in Fremantle ship power loss.
See also: https://www.animal-welfare-foundation.org/files/downloads/Report_64-livestock_AWF_RobindesBois_FINAL_March24-BD.pdf

The Inspector-General of Animal Welfare and Live Animal Exports concluded her tenure on 29 August 2025 less than a year after she took the job. No reasons have been given for the short tenure and the resignation but Dr Clift was announced as having a state government position in NSW on 15 August 2025. 
Given the diligence with which Dr Clift pursued enquiries during her short tenure, one would question whether it all became impossible. Having an "independent" inspector general employed by Department of Ag they are reviewing has always been a highly questionable arrangement. 
Notably, Dr Clift is still listed as the IGAWLAE on the DAFF website and DAFF has not announced an interim replacement or a successor....are they quietly ditching the role?