Cattle pass China muster

Last week’s historic trial air-shipment by Elders International Trading was sold to one of China's largest beef processors and producers - the Chongqing Hondo Agriculture Group.

Loading of the 747-jumbo jet started at about 6am Tuesday, October 20, at the Melbourne Freight Terminal at Tullamarine Airport, and ended somewhat prematurely at about 3.30pm.

Originally, 170 Angus and Hereford cattle - weighing about 480 to 600 kilograms each and acquired from farms in NSW and Victoria - were scheduled for the historic flight.

However, the flight departed 20-head short after Department of Agriculture chief biosecurity officer Ray Levey rejected several crate-loads of cattle due to potential animal welfare issues around insufficient head-clearance.

After some last minute nervous scrambling, Elders officials found more suitable sized wooden crates allowing the cattle to stand in their natural positions, without causing any serious stress or discomfort.

Elders officials were visibly frustrated by the intermittent delays which resulted in crates being unloaded and then reloaded, according to export specifications.

They also disputed several of Mr Levey’s tight calls but his diligent adherence to the Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock, as written, was clearly professional and motivated by expert considerations, including with federal Department officials also present from Canberra for the loading process.

If push came to shove, Elders would have needed to make a commercial decision on whether the shipment proceeded, due to the reduced numbers.

In the end a potential crisis was averted, but the lost loading-time effectively resulted in a shortfall of about US$30,000 on the contracted consignment which still carried about 85 tonnes and met the basic requirements needed, to execute the sales contract between Hondo and Elders.

Two Chinese government officials were also present at the busy freight loading-bay to ensure the shipment agreed with China’s strict quarantine and animal welfare standards.

Those standards included the cattle being free of various diseases like foot and mouth, bovine tuberculosis and bovine brucellosis, as per the animal health protocols signed-off between the Australian and Chinese governments in July, to open the live slaughter cattle trade.

To meet those new protocols, the cattle must have also resided on their originating farm for three months prior to export and spent seven days in a Department quarantine facility and been inspected by officials and passed as disease or parasite free.

After the freight loading was complete, the paperwork was formally signed and the jumbo jet departed Melbourne for the 8500km journey to Chongqing, at about 7pm.

After a brief stopover in Darwin to refuel, the flight touched-down at Chongqing airport about 4am local time – following the 12-hour voyage – where it was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of Chinese media, business and government officials.

On landing, eight representatives from China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) boarded the plane wearing the equivalent of Hazmat suits (pictured below).

They were covered head to toe in protective gear including gloves and masks and also carried various equipment related to their strict biosecurity inspection task including flashlights, video cameras, medical boxes, spray equipment and buckets.

Before boarding the plane, the AQSIQ officers also paraded before the media and television cameras for photographs and video footage, and then marched military-style, in a line, up the stairs into the cargo cabin, to collect the necessary documentation.

Whether their performance was vital to the biosecurity task, or was just a public show of strength to the cameras, was mostly irrelevant.

It was however, a clear indication of how just serious the Chinese government takes biosecurity issues - especially for the first ever importation of live cattle from Australia - and the underlying food security message.

Chinese freight handlers then took about one hour to unload the cattle from the jumbo jet before the crates were carefully re-loaded onto trucks destined for a quarantine facility outside of Chongqing.

Elders representatives said the large quarantine facility was operated professionally with strict government supervision, including 25 CCTV cameras.

From there, the cattle were due to be moved into Hondo’s processing facilities where they were scheduled to spend several days recovering from the long journey and preparing for slaughter.

As the truck loading process unfolded on the tarmac, Chinese media also collected more vision and photographs while conducting interviews with various business and government officials to record their perspectives on the event’s significance.

Australian representatives also joined the event, including from the Elders China division and the Department of Agriculture and Australian Trade Commission.

Mid-morning, a closed business roundtable meeting and large media conference was held at the airport’s business centre where further background information was provided on the live cattle importation, biosecurity standards and the Chinese beef market’s dynamics, by government officials and senior Hondo representatives