Families Want More Details on Gulf Livestock 1 Capsize

Australian local media has reported that the families of two Australians who went missing when the Gulf Livestock 1 capsized on September 2, 2020, have pleaded with the federal government to help them get more details about what happened.

The livestock carrier was sailing from New Zealand to China with 43 crew and approximately 6,000 dairy cattle onboard when it capsized in the East China Sea during Typhoon Maysak.

40 crew members remain missing after the capsize.

As vessel flag state, the Panama Maritime Authority produced a report into the incident in 2022, but the families told 7News that the report, which has not been made public “ticked boxes but did nothing to detail what happened to the ship in the storm and did not touch on known problems with the vessel in the lead-up to the sinking.”

An ABC investigation uncovered that in the 18 months prior to the vessel’s sinking, Indonesian and Australian authorities recorded dozens of safety breaches onboard, including critical failures of its propulsion and navigations systems as well as issues relating to vessel stability.

During a voyage in July 2019, the livestock carrier drifted for 25 hours whilst undergoing repairs following an engine failure.

The ship was constructed as a container ship named Maersk Waterford in 2002, then renamed Dana Hollandia in 2006 and Cetus J. in 2012. In 2015, the vessel was converted to a livestock carrier and named Rahmeh. In 2019, she was renamed Gulf Livestock 1.

The IMO is reviewing the report this year, but any action on lessons learnt is expected to take at least 12 months.