Animals on Ships Waiting at the Suez Canal Face Starvation Crisis

Thousands of Livestock Including Sheep Loaded on 20 Ships... Shortage of Water and Feed for Animals
Efforts Underway to Pump Water from Grounded Ships

[Asia Economy International Desk Reporter] Thousands of animals aboard ships waiting due to the blockage of the Suez Canal caused by the grounding of a mega container ship are facing the risk of starvation.

On the 27th (local time), according to the vessel tracking site 'MarineTraffic' and others, there are 13 ships carrying live livestock waiting for the canal passage to resume.

The British daily The Guardian reported that there are up to 20 ships carrying animals, combining 9 ships it identified and 11 ships confirmed by animal protection organizations.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Most of the ships carrying live livestock attempting to pass through the Suez Canal are presumed to have been en route from Europe to the Middle East.

Bloomberg explained that several ships waiting near the canal are traveling from Romania to Saudi Arabia. Romanian authorities stated that 11 livestock export ships have been affected by this incident.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest importer of sheep, imports live sheep from Romania and slaughters them according to Islamic methods. In Islam, only meat slaughtered according to the Islamic method called 'Dhabihah' is recognized as halal (products permitted for Muslims to eat and use).

Gabriel Faun, European Director of the NGO 'Animal International,' said, "There are ships running out of water and feed for livestock within two days," adding, "If the canal does not open within 24 hours, a serious tragedy will occur." He mentioned that some ships have more than six days' worth of feed and water and added, "If they decide to return to Romania (the point of departure), there is still a chance, but if the canal remains blocked for 2 to 6 more days, a disaster will happen."

Peter Stevenson of the animal welfare organization 'Compassion in World Farming' pointed out that densely loading thousands of livestock on ships for long-term transport causes stress and increases the risk of disease in animals, and said, "Some ships were repurposed from other uses and are not perfectly suited for livestock transport."

Contrary to these concerns, the livestock export industry claims that veterinarians board each ship and that the mortality rate of animals during sea transport is not higher than that of land transport.

The Suez Canal has been blocked for five days due to the grounding of the large container ship Ever Given, and it is reported that 276 ships are currently waiting to pass through the canal.

Meanwhile, Osama Rabie, Chairman of the Egyptian Suez Canal Authority (SCA), announced on the same day that efforts are underway to refloat the Ever Given. Until the previous day, the SCA used dredgers to remove about 20,000 cubic meters of sand and soil from the canal embankment where the bow was stuck, and explained that a total of 14 tugboats are involved in the operation. To reduce the weight of the ship, which has a total tonnage of 224,000 tons, about 9,000 tons of ballast water was also removed.

Rabie said, "Fortunately, the rudder and propeller of the ship, which had been non-functional since the accident, are now working again, but it is impossible to predict when the ship can be refloated," adding, "If the current efforts fail, we will have to reduce the ship's weight further, but we hope such a situation does not occur."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.