Karumba live-ex facility to close

21 January 2010

THE live export facility at Karumba is in danger of closing if a buyer cannot be found in the very near future. The facility went under contract in December and was expected to change hands this month but the contract fell over.

The facility is owned by Sea Swift, one of the Faithfull group of companies and non-executive director, Sid Faithfull said the board had decided to convert the site to a general cargo handling facility if it wasn't sold soon.

"Because of mining and other industry activity in the Gulf the company has decided to focus on the general cargo opportunities," Mr Faithfull said.

It was his idea to build the live export facility 20 years ago and he said he would hate to see it go as he felt it would be of great benefit to the live export trade in the Gulf country.

"It is a service facility for the beef industry and personally I have a strong desire for it to continue but I have only one vote on the board of Sea Swift," he said.

Gulf country grazier, Ken Fry, Forrest Home, said it would be a disaster if the facility closed. He said he had been gearing up to start using the facility.

"Gulf country graziers need to have the Karumba option for live export. Because of the new trucking laws where a drive cannot drive for more than eight hours, Karumba becomes the best option for transporting cattle - it will be a disaster if it closes," Mr Fry said.

Normanton grazier, Ashley Gallagher, said if the Karumba facility closed it would be a huge loss to the local cattle industry and local graziers would get less for their live export cattle because of the extra transport costs.

"We sold all our export cattle through there last year having only to transport them 140km - if it closes local graziers are up for the cost of transporting them over 800km," Mr Gallagher told the North Queensland Register.

The Karumba facility is a common user facility and can accommodate a full boatload of cattle, which is an advantage because the cattle can be transported, rested, fed and protocoled for AQIS at the facility. They then can be loaded straight on to a ship without having to double handle the stock in regards to transport.

All current indications are that numbers of cattle going to live export are on the rise.

To run the facility an operator needs to have a security clearance from the Department of Transport and Regional Development (DOTAR); be conversant with the AQIS requirements with the operation of a live export facility and experience in handling stock.

Last year, more than 17,000 head were shipped from the Karumba facility and more than 40,000 head have been shipped in previous years.

According to Mr Faithfull the facility has a conservative potential to handle more than 50,000 head in a calendar year.

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