The Transportation Ministry’s Directorate-General of Sea Transportation emphasized the use of livestock vessels to prioritize animal welfare to achieve food self-sufficiency, with emphasis on beef and buffalo, by ensuring smooth distribution using sea transportation modes.

The use of livestock vessels was one of the programs enacted in Presidential Regulation Number 70 of 2017 on the Implementation of Public Service Obligations for the Transportation of Goods from and to Disadvantaged, Remote, Outermost, and Border Areas.

“The implementation of special livestock transportation has increased every year, starting from the aspect of the fleet to routes and the number of cattle transported to the addition of loading and unloading ports,” Acting Director-General of Sea Transportation, Arif Toha, noted in a press statement received here, Friday.

This was conveyed following a video going viral on social media that showed a ship carrying livestock without paying attention to their welfare.

Toha later noted that the livestock in the vessel were treated well during the trip.

Since 2015, livestock ships had been operating in Indonesia and showed good progress in terms of livestock distribution across regions.

There were six livestock vessels operated by KM Camara Nusantara (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6), with specifications for the overall length of the ship (LOA) ±69.78 m, width ±13.6 m, and a loading capacity of 150 tons. Each ship was able to transport 550 cattle on one trip.

In 2015, there was only one route for cattle ships with four loading ports and four unloading ports, with a load capacity of 353 cattle.

Furthermore, in 2016, the realization of livestock cargo increased significantly to 8,403 cattle but decreased slightly to 7,990 cattle in 2017.

“In 2018, the cattle ship routes increased to six, with 10 loading ports and seven unloading ports. The realization of cargo also increased sharply to 34,134 cattle. The realization of cargo increased to 42,726 cattle in 2019 and to 42,984 cattle in 2020,” Toha remarked.

Every year, the livestock vessel service has increased on the basis of benefits felt by the community. Apart from improvement in the health and welfare of animals, the cost of livestock vessels is relatively affordable, with subsidies from the government, Toha remarked.

Source: Antara News