The Port of Townsville jumped eight places to rank second on the list of Australia’s biggest cattle export ports in 2013-14.

Northern Queensland’s largest port handled 203,824 cattle in 2013-14, up from just 4214 the previous financial year.

That volume positioned Townsville second behind Darwin, which exported 413,364 for the same period.

The surge in exports from Townsville was driven largely by the high supply of cattle flowing out of northern Queensland due to drought-forced destocking and the simultaneous rise that occurred in cattle orders from Indonesia and Vietnam.

Annual live cattle export volumes from Darwin 2000-01 to 2013-14. Click on chart to view in large format

Darwin remains Australia’s biggest export port by far, with volumes increasing by 69pc to post a new annual record in 2013-14 (see chart at left).

However, the high costs of exporting from Darwin this year caused by port congestion issues, shipping bottlenecks and resulting additional demmurage fees also caused exporters to fill re-direct some shipments from the Top End to alternative northern ports.

In addition to the big increase in Townsville, exports from Broome increased from 65,688 to 103,857, while shipments from Wyndham more than doubled from 17,257 to 41,228.

Part of Townsville’s attraction as an alternative to Darwin is underpinned by its proximity to large cattle numbers, while a recently completed road project also now gives six-deck road trains direct access to the port.

The previous annual record for cattle shipments from Townsville was 166,409 cattle, set in 2002.

Fremantle was Australia’s third largest cattle export port in 2013-14 with shipments rising from 125,580 head in 2012-13 to 140,932 last financial year.

Largest markets for Australian cattle exports in 2013-14:

Largest markets for Australian cattle exports in 2013-14: