Livestock Carrier Al Mawashi Pulls Out Of SA

Kuwaiti animal trader Al Mawashi, operator of a number of ageing livestock carriers, will no longer buy South African sheep for live shipment to the Middle East. Rather, it will focus its purchases on Australia.

This, says Al Mawashi in a statement, is as a result of South African stakeholders in the animal trade, including Transnet, the meat industry and the Dept of Agriculture “dragging their feet” in drawing up guidelines for the shipment of live animals by sea.

Al Mawashi added that it had lost R49 million directly as a result of the National SPCA’s relentless oversight of the various consignments of animals for shipment, both at the company’s Berlin feedlot, and on the quayside and aboard ship at the port of East London, not to mention the costs of high court applications brought by the NSPCA to have the practice stopped.

In a statement heralding the departure of Al Mawashi the NSPCA vows to continue with its high court application to have the live transportation of South African animals by sea outlawed completely, and certainly not north of the equator.

Kuwaiti animal trader Al Mawashi, operator of a number of ageing livestock carriers, will no longer buy South African sheep for live shipment to the Middle East. Rather, it will focus its purchases on Australia.

This, says Al Mawashi in a statement, is as a result of South African stakeholders in the animal trade, including Transnet, the meat industry and the Dept of Agriculture “dragging their feet” in drawing up guidelines for the shipment of live animals by sea.

Al Mawashi added that it had lost R49 million directly as a result of the National SPCA’s relentless oversight of the various consignments of animals for shipment, both at the company’s Berlin feedlot, and on the quayside and aboard ship at the port of East London, not to mention the costs of high court applications brought by the NSPCA to have the practice stopped.