MPI suspends exports of live cattle following disappearance of a Napier ship to China

The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) has stopped considering livestock export applications after a ship that recently left New Zealand went missing.

Rescuers are searching for cattle carrier Gulf Livestock 1 and his 42 crew members, including two New Zealanders, who a survivor said sank off an island in southern Japan after making a distress call in rough seas by a typhoon.

The ship was sailing from Napier to China.

The Japan Coast Guard was this afternoon (New Zealand time) looking for the cattle transport that had 5,800 cows on board.

Japan’s coast guard said it rescued a crew member, Sareno Edvarodo, a 45-year-old chief officer from the Philippines, while searching for the ship.

According to Edvarodo, the ship lost an engine before being hit by a wave and sank during bad weather, a coastguard spokeswoman said.

When the ship capsized, the crew was instructed to don life jackets. Edvarodo said he jumped into the water and did not see any other teams before being rescued.

MPI said they had temporarily suspended consideration of livestock export applications after the ship went missing.

“MPI wants to understand what happened during the navigation of the Gulf Livestock 1,” said a spokesman.

Photographs provided by the Coast Guard showed a person in a life jacket pulled out of a rough sea in the dark.

The ship sent a distress signal yesterday at 4.45 am NZT in the East China Sea, an area affected by Typhoon Maysak.

NHK World Japan reported that the Panama-registered freighter issued the distress signal at 1.40am Japan time on Wednesday about 185 kilometers west of Amami Oshima in southwestern Japan.

The ship left Napier on August 14 with 5,867 cows and reportedly 43 crew members, including two from New Zealand, 39 from the Philippines, one from Australia and one from Singapore.

The ship was heading to Jingtang port in Tangshan, China, with an estimated journey of about 17 days. It was expected to arrive in China on September 3.

NHK World reported that shortly before 7 p.m. Japan time Wednesday, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said that the crew of a patrol plane saw a lifeboat-like object in the waters near where the signal was sent. and a person with a life jacket nearby.

New Zealand Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said he was informed of the distress call and the search last night.

“I hope that all the crew on board are safe. My thoughts are with their families, it will be a very difficult time for them as the search continues.

“MPI officials are working closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the exporter. I am awaiting an update on the situation.”

Because it was an overseas incident, the Foreign Ministry was the lead agency, a spokesperson said.

Safe Campaigns manager Marianne Macdonald said she highlighted the risk of exporting live cattle. The cows “are probably all pregnant,” he said.

However, the MPI spokeswoman confirmed that none of the animals on board were pregnant.

“No MPI personnel were on board the Gulf Livestock 1,” he added.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said they are providing “consular assistance” to the families of two New Zealanders on board.