The next time you stick your fork into a veal fillet, a good steak or a sheep shoulder, think that perhaps the piece of meat you are about to put in your mouth has arrived at your table after a long ocean voyage. . That is, by sea. Ships loaded with containers of merchandise, oil, gas, automobiles, minerals, fishing… move throughout the oceans. and cattleincluding cows, sheep, goats and everything they need for travel, such as fodder.
Only throughout 2018 australia exported nearly 1.14 million sheep and 1.12 million head of cattle by sea, figures that give a clear idea of the intensity of a traffic that it is not foreign to Spanish ports. In 2020, with the pandemic as a backdrop, some 780,000 heads of cattle, an export flow that was maintained in 2022.
And if each maritime traffic has its own “king ship”, a vessel that stands out for its dimensions and capacity, the cattle trade is no exception. For years the Ocean Shearer It shines among the vessels intended for the transfer of animals thanks to its enormous capacity, which allows it to load neither more nor less than 20,000 cattle, 75,000 sheep or a combination of both.
The largest ship of its category
Its history dates back to spring 2016when Wellard Limited decided to reinforce its cattle transport fleet with a large signing. And so big.
Built by COSCO Ship Yard in Dalian, China, the Ocean Shearer it surpassed even what until then had been the “jewel in the crown” of Wellard, the Ocean Drover. When designing it, its managers wanted not only to expand its capacity, but also to improve the conditions of the cattle on board, with better ventilation, more fresh water and space for fodder storage.
Just a few months after leaving the Dalian docks the Ocean Shearer got the go-ahead from the Australian authorities and permits for the transport of cattle, becoming – in the words of its owners – “the largest ship in the world” built specifically for the transport of cattle, a record that until then had belonged to its older brother, the Ocean Drover.
Bazas had to be, of course.
The ship had a Loading capacity of 23,500 square meters (m2), which allowed it to transport, depending on the weight, 20,000 cattle or 75,000 sheep in a single trip with a range of 18,000 miles. Your technical sheet is completed with a length of something more than 189 meters by 30 beam, almost 9 draft and 36,028 gross tons. A whole mega floating stable.
pulling similes, the ABC chain explained during its coming-out, in 2016, the new Wellard ship was almost as long as two football fields and, seen at water level, reached the height of an eight-story building. A whole mass of seas that had cost around 90 million dollars.
“The ship’s fodder storage system contains approximately 3,000 tonnes,” explained from Wellard Limitedwho recognized that one of his great objectives was rejuvenate your fleet of ships. After all, the name of the new ship had not been accidental. When baptizing him, those responsible recovered that of a previous vessel, retired in 2012. Thus, bearing the title of largest floating stable in the world, the Ocean Shearer undertook long voyages around the world that they brought him repeatedly to Cadiz during 2016.
Not all of his voyages were by sea.
In 2019, just a few years after its premiere in style, the ABC revealed that Wellard Limited had reached an agreement with the Kuwaiti firm Al Mawashi Limited, one of the largest exporters of sheep from Australia to the Middle East, to sell the vessel for about 53 million dollars. His objective: to strengthen his finances and save himself the cost of eight million dollars that the Ocean Shearer brought him each year between principal and interest.
Not long after, Al Mawashi was throwing a statement presenting his new acquisitionthe ship Al Kuwait, with which it hoped to increase its cattle export capacity in 8,000,000 sheep a yearthus increasing its capacity to two million head of cattle per year.
The ship —emphasized those responsible for the Kuwaiti firm— stands out for its dimensions, but also for a fundamental peculiarity: it has been specifically built to serve as a stable, unlike others that must be adapted. announces it today as a ship capable of displacing 80,000 sheep and 15,000 cattle.
Such a floating barn.
A Noah’s Ark for cattle XXXL format.
Images: Bahnfrend (Wikipedia), port of cadiz and Al Mawashi
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