Greece Agrees To Supply Food To Stranded Livestock Carrier

After the horrible incident of a cattle ship in Spain being stuck at sea and ultimately culled, comes the news of Greece delivering the fodder to another ship. Greece has agreed to deliver 50 tons of animal feed to a Togo flagged ship that is stranded in the Mediterranean for the past 3 months.

The ship named El Beik carrying hundreds of cattle has been stranded at sea after it was rejected by the buyers who are afraid of a disease outbreak. At present, the ship is waiting for the animal fodder and as soon as it receives the food, it will sail back to Spain.

The ship left the Tarragona port in Spain in December last year. It is carrying 1800 cattle to be sold in Turkey. However, now they have to return to Spain following the rejection of livestock cargo. Few days a similar incident happened with another cattle-carrying ship, which ultimately led to the slaughtering of the cattle after they returned to Spain.

Representation Image – Credits: LiveCorp – YouTube

So far the Spanish government hasn’t confirmed whether Elbeik will be returning to Spain.

Turkish officials rejected the animals as they feared a BlueTongue virus outbreak on the ship. After Turkish rejection, several other countries have rejected the livestock cargo. They have even refused entry to the ship, denying them any animal feed to sustain the animals.

Greek Shipping Ministry officials have confirmed that they didn’t allow the ship in Greece. However, the ship had received fuel near the Crete island, said the officials.

At present, the ship is moored near Kalamata port in the Peloponnese peninsula. The animal food will be delivered to the crew of the ship in the next few hours in the same location.

“We are in the process of transferring the supplies for the animals and for human consumption, for the crew, to the vessel. The operation is still in progress,” said a regional official.

The earlier ship Karim Allah returned to Spain on February 25. The Cattles on the ship were unfit and hence they were slaughtered. No reports of Bluetongue outbreak emerged on that ship. The Spanish government has repeatedly stated that both the ships were absolutely fine and they have medical certificates that don’t show any BlueTongue virus outbreak.

Reference: thecattlesite.com

Source: Maritime Shipping News