Live exports set to resume next year - Hoggard
Shipments of live animals by sea should be possible in the second half of next year, according to Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard.
The company's licence was cancelled following the deaths of 2,400 sheep aboard the Awassi Express in 2017.
The incident also led to a temporary ban on live sheep exports to the Middle East and prompted an ongoing ban on exports during the northern hemisphere.
The Department of Agriculture and Water gave the green light for exports to resume from December 3, it says the company had now "sufficiently rehabilitated itself so as to resume its status as a body corporate of integrity".
The department also says it had since strengthened regulations by implementing a ban on export shipping to the Middle East during the hottest part of the northern hemisphere summer.
It also required heat stress management plans for northern summer voyages, lowered stockig densities for sheep on livestock export vessels, and required automatic measurement and collection of on-deck temperature readings for voyages.
