Up to 10 boats trapped in and around the canal are believed to transport livestock.
Of all the millions of tons of cargo that pile up in the Suez Canal, none is more delicate than the animals crammed into the hulls of several of the ships.
Little information is available, and neither canal officials nor transportation executives are willing to speak, but data compiled by Bloomberg indicates that up to 10 vessels trapped in and around the canal could transport livestock. Given the itinerary from Europe to Saudi Arabia, they most likely take sheep.
While much of the seized cargo is commodities, such as oil, which can be stored on ships for long periods, livestock need food and water, and these deliveries typically take only enough for a few more days. That could create a critical situation for ships to find food supplies in a local port or force them to turn around. Dislodging the vessel blocking the canal can take at least a week, longer than initially feared, people familiar with the matter said.
“I wouldn’t expect a problem to arise after two days of delay,” said Peter Stevenson, policy director for the animal welfare group Compassion in World Farming, which has called for an end to live animals. shipping. “It’s as time goes on that the problems get worse. Every once in a while, there are real scandals when things go wrong, but it’s a day-to-day horror.”
Livestock can also be transported by sea, and ships generally have at least two to three days of extra hay or feed on board, said Bob Bishop, president of the U.S. Livestock Exporters Association. power, they could get more than one port while refueling. A ship that cannot dock could be fed from a barge in what is known as “midway loading,” he said.
Weighing options
“If he’s running out of food, I would consider getting to the port and putting in extra food,” Bishop said by phone from New York. “If I were the owner of the sheep, I would try to find a country that needed sheep,” he added. “The shortest route would be back to Romania.”
At least 10 vessels designed to transport animals are parked near the closed canal, and several appear to be en route between Romania and Saudi Arabia, according to vessel data compiled by Bloomberg. Those leaving the European country probably bring sheep, which Saudi Arabia buys so that the animals can be slaughtered according to religious preferences. Those traveling in the other direction could be empty ships.
The Middle Eastern nation is the world’s largest sheep importer by a wide margin, United Nations data shows. But the trade route has faced disaster at times. About 14,000 sheep shipped from Romania to Saudi Arabia were killed when a ship partially capsized in 2019, according to media reports at the time. Rescuers were only able to save a little more than 200 animals.
Risks en route
Boats that crowd thousands of sheep and longer trips increase the risk of illness and stress, said Stevenson of the animal welfare group. Some boats used to transport animals have also been converted for other purposes and are not ideal, he said. It can be difficult to reverse course after departure due to health regulations.
Bishop said livestock mortality rates are generally no higher at sea than on land, and most ships have a vet.
A US shipment of dairy cattle left the Galveston port in Texas late last year en route to Pakistan via the Suez, according to Bishop. Another recent shipment of American cattle sailed from the west coast to Pakistan, avoiding the Suez due to tolls, he said.
“After this container ship, you might see more and more of that,” he said.
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