Wellard Rural Exports has this morning confirmed that its vessel, the MV Ocean Outback, has successfully discharged 7000 cattle to a South East Asian client.

Earlier this month the same vessel was diverted from the Middle East to South East Asia soon after its departure from Fremantle due to engine issues (see earlier article here)

In a statement released by the company this morning, Wellard Rural Exports CEO Fred Troncone said the vessel had achieved a voyage success rate of 99.8pc and the client, a long term ESCAS accredited client of Wellard, was very happy with the quality of the cattle received and the condition they were presented in.

“We loaded a consignment of healthy, quality cattle in Perth and a consignment of healthy, quality cattle walked off the vessel at the destination port,” Mr Troncone said.

“The longer than expected total voyage duration had no impact on the health and welfare of the cattle, which is testament to the quality of the livestock services on board the vessel and the routine care offered by the veterinarian, stockmen and crew.”

The vessel’s original destination was Israel, however concerns about the performance of one of the vessel’s two engines prompted Wellard to change the destination to South East Asia.

The vessel is designed to operate on one engine so there were no safety concerns, just a reduction in cruising speed. It reached the destination port in north Vietnam in about 12 days sailing time.

All livestock services on the vessel – feed, water and ventilation – operated normally throughout the voyage and the cattle on board were cared for by an Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service accredited veterinarian, two AQIS accredited stockmen and the shipboard crew.

Source: Wellard Rural Exports