The newest ship in Australia’s livestock export fleet is making its maiden voyage to Jakarta today after loading 4000 feeder steers in Darwin on Wednesday.

The Greyman Express is the latest in a series of seven state-of-the-art livestock export vessels purpose-built in China’s Cosco shipyards in the past three years for Netherlands-based shipping company Vroon.

The seven ships in the ‘G-Class’ series incorporate a cutting edge wave-piercing bow design, enabling them to operate at faster speeds while maintaining full stability, an innovation which provides increased animal welfare benefits and operating efficiencies.

To mark the vessel’s maiden voyage from Darwin on Wednesday, exporter Frontier International Agri, which has taken on the long-term charter of the Greyman Express, invited several NT cattle producers to tour the ship while it was loading at East Arm Wharf.

Tony Davis

In 40 years as a Northern Territory cattleman, Tony Davis has seen the live export industry grow from the early days of cattle being shipped in converted cargo vessels into what he now terms as a “serious industry” with purpose-designed livestock ships.

Mr Davis said he was “extremely impressed” by what he saw on the Greyman Express on Wednesday.

He was particularly impressed by the fact it took just 13 minutes to load each six deck unit of 310kg-320kg feeder steers onto the vessel.

“No hassles at all, no drama, no baulking, it went really well,” he said.

“She cruises at 18 knots, in just three days they are over in their new environment, so we have come a long way.”

Mr Davis also commented on the contrast from the high-tech operating systems in the new vessel, such as the computerised bridge, engine systems and ventilation units, to the traditional cattle feeding systems employed in the livestock pens.

“You go from state of the art technology up on the boat to down where the animals are, and you can feel it is free flowing and very well designed.

“What did amaze me is that there was still a human element.

“I am a really old fashioned cattle bloke. All the feed is hand fed by the stockman, it isn’t done mechanically.

“I have also spent a fair bit of time in Indonesia and at the TUM feedlots where most of our cattle go to, and it is the same thing, the human side versus the machinery side, with humans walking down and putting feed out, it is cleaner, it is better for the animal.

“So from the perspective of the cattle, the comfort side and the animal welfare side, it was fantastic. The whole thing was very well designed from a cattle point of view.”

The new vessel also includes a cross-deck loading ramp which allows cattle to be loaded from the top deck and moved to lower levels.

This new design means the vessel can be loaded at high or low tide, avoiding the delays that can be regularly caused to loading by Darwin’s massive tidal movements.

Mr Davis said it gave him confidence as a cattleman to see exporters like Frontier making a significant investment in the future of the industry.

“It is a total commitment, and bloody gutsy,” he said.

“It is reassuring to know we have got serious people behind us in this industry.

“When people put millions of dollars into what is absolutely just a cattle boat it just shows the confidence of the whole industry.”

Mr Davis said he believed that competition provided by the live export industry benefitted producers across Australia.

“Without live export the cattle industry in Australia, if we only had the meatworks, it would be a very different story what you read about the relative prices.

“Even for Tasmania for example, it is that one bit of competition with the few meat companies that we have, if we didn’t have live export the prices would not be the same.

“We need it, we really need it.”

The 4000 cattle on the maiden voyage of the Greyman Express will be delivered to two of Frontier’s customers in Indonesia, TUM and Mitra Agro.