Live export of cattle and sheep by sea exposes animals to prolonged confinement, heat stress, disease, and injury. It remains a major welfare controversy with mounting calls for phase-outs.
Live export at sea subjects animals to conditions that would not be accepted in land transport for equivalent durations. Prolonged confinement, high stocking densities on vessels, tropical heat on routes to the Middle East, and disease outbreaks cause suffering on a scale that chilled meat trade could eliminate. Transitioning from live animal export to refrigerated meat export eliminates these welfare harms while maintaining economic trade relationships.