Australian livestock stuck in limbo on ship in Perth as second vessel heads to Red Sea

16,000 sheep and cows are sitting off the coast of Perth amid a heatwave, after the vessel turned back from the Red Sea over risk of attacks

Another vessel carrying an even larger cargo from Australia sailed for a Red Sea port in Jordan, with a contingency plan to unload them in the Gulf

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MV Bahijah, with sheep and cattle on board, at a port in Fremantle. Photo: AP

Published: 10:16pm, 2 Feb 2024

A ship carrying 16,000 sheep and cows that turned back from the Red Sea due to the risk of attack off Yemen was stranded at an Australian port in a heatwave on Friday as the exporter sought to offload at least some of the animals into quarantine.

Meanwhile, another vessel carrying an even larger cargo – tens of thousands of animals – from Australia sailed for a Red Sea port in Jordan, with a contingency plan to unload them in the Gulf if it fails to obtain permission to enter the waterway.

Passage through the Red Sea has become perilous due to attacks on shipping by Yemen’s Houthi militia that have disrupted global trade.

The MV Bahijah set out for Israel on January 5 carrying around 14,000 sheep and 2,000 cattle but diverted due to threat of attack and was ordered home by the Australian government. It arrived in Perth in Western Australia on Monday during a summer heatwave.

Livestock on MV Bahijah that is docked at a port in Fremantle. Biosecurity rules mean the animals cannot disembark without being quarantined. Photo: AP

Biosecurity rules mean the animals cannot disembark without being quarantined. Australia’s agriculture ministry said it is still considering an application by the exporter, Israeli firm Bassem Dabbah, to unload some animals and send the rest back to sea for a voyage of roughly 33 days to reach Israel by going around Africa.

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