We demand an end for cruel live transports by road and sea

Live Exports by Sea

Live exports to non-EU countries by sea

In order to get rid of the overproduction of animals in the European Union, more than three million animals are exported to non-EU countries every year. Most of these animals are cattle or sheep. The animals are being transported in trucks from all over the European Union to the EU export ports. Croatia, France, Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Romania are the only Member States that have allowed ports to load animals into livestock vessels. From these ports, the animals are being shipped abroad. There is a great demand for live animals, mainly for dairy or meat production, in Israel, Turkey, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and the Maghreb countries.
For most animals this involves days and weeks of transportation on ferries and vessels in often catastrophic conditions. These transports can cause serious welfare concerns. Furthermore, sooner or later the animals are slaughtered without stunning and treated in a way that wouldn’t be tolerated in the European Union.
The European Union has long been aware of the cruelty animals are subjected to during these sea voyages and in destination countries, yet it continues to send animals there knowingly (animals are even sent to warzones).

Unsuitable and outdated ships

Livestock vessels exporting animals to third countries approved by European Member States operate despite several concerns and risks related to welfare of animals, safety for crews and the environment. They are the only vessel category that carries a living, sentient cargo, yet the number of deficiencies found by Port State Control inspections is so high that livestock vessels worldwide remained the No. 1 category for the number of detentions since 2017. EU-approved livestock vessels regularly have deficiencies identified, some of them resulting in detentions and even temporary bans. Many deficiencies pose a threat to animal welfare, health and safety.

Since our first study related to livestock vessels in 2017, the situation has not improved, it has become even worse. Currently (2024), 64 livestock carriers are permitted to load European animals on EU ports and then export them to third countries.Currently, the average livestock carrier is almost 43 years old, more than ever a substandard ship. Among them, 94% have been converted after around 30 years at sea. They were not originally built to carry live animals, so there can be inherent problems with the construction and stability of livestock vessels and the risk of capsizing. The cargo of these vessels is live animals that move, which is of particular concern in extreme weather and sea conditions.

Nearly half of the EU-approved livestock carriers are flying the flag of a country listed by the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (Paris MoU) as a black flag (for example Togo, Sierra Leone or Tanzania). Even vessels flying a grey flag still have so many deficiencies and risks that some of these vessels have been detained in ports up to 10 times. Of the 64 EUapproved livestock carriers, 24 have reportedly suffered major incidents and various breakdowns throughout their operational life: engine failure with or without livestock on board, fire, collision, and oil spill during bunkering operation.

These livestock vessels also pose problems less directly related to animal welfare: serious risks for animal and public health due to possible spread of diseases; vessel used to conceal illegal activities (human and drug trafficking) and environmental concerns for marine life (in 2021-2023, 75% of the 64 EU-approved livestock carriers were reported to have pollution prevention deficiencies. Furthermore, exporters and operators of livestock vessels ignore MARPOL (Annex IV and V) requirements for the protection of the sea and cause serious damage by dumping dead animals and manure into the Mediterranean Sea).

We are alarmed by the fact that these livestock vessels are still operating in and from European Union ports. Considering the ageing and poor performance of the majority of the EU approved vessels we can expect more tragedies in the future.

Animal welfare problems of live exports by sea

Sea transport is inherently risky for the animals: Including clinical diseases evidenced by morbidity levels; heat stress evidenced by respiration rate and high levels of temperature and humidity; problems related to loading density; high ammonia levels due to the accumulation of excrements and poor ventilation; and factors such as food and water availability, injuries from infrastructure and design, shipping fever, stress, insufficient coordination of transport, motion sickness, mounting behaviour, noise, and disturbance to lighting patterns.
There is a lack of official controls of the animals and the loading procedures in many EU ports (e.g. the handling of the animals is brutal and even injured animals are being transported; the animals must often remain on the trucks for hours until they are loaded onto the ship). The infrastructure in the loading and destination ports are insufficient (lack of stables, poor loading facilities).
The conditions in which animals are carried on vessels are usually unknown, as is information on numbers and causes of mortalities. In most cases, their welfare in third countries from unloading from the vessel until they reach their destination is not verified, as soon as animals set foot on a vessel departing Europe, EU authorities lose control of animal welfare, health, and traceability. Furthermore, no medical support for sick or injured animals during the sea transport (it is not required by law to have a veterinarian onboard to treat or humanely euthanize these animals).
Sea transport of animals is a topic which seems neglected by scientific research, EU institutions, competent authorities and Member States.

What we are doing

In 2017, the international firm Conte & Giacomini which specialises in EU law, filed an extensive complaint about sea transports with the European Commission on our behalf. In this complaint we asked the EU Commission to initiate infringement proceedings against various member states. The proceedings are still ongoing.  

As a response, the EU Commission carried out inspections in the EU ports for the first time in 2018 and 2019 and confirmed many of the problems mentioned above. This increases the chances of infringement proceedings before the European Court of Justice.

We will continue to document shortcomings of animal transports by sea even though it becomes more difficult for our teams to get into the ports and in proximity of the animals. 

We are opposing live exports of animals to third countries and demand a limitation of the transport duration for live transports.

Together with our umbrella organisation, the Eurogroup for Animals, we will continue to pressure politicians in order to achieve improvements for the animals.

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Study 2024: AWF x Robin des Bois
64 EU-approved livestock carriers

Study (Robin des Bois, AWF|TSB): 
78 EU-approved livestock carriers 

Study commissioned by the ANIT Commitee: 
Animal welfare on sea vessels and criteria for approval of livestock authorisation

 

Investigations