This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the performance of the livestock export industry in terms of mortality rates of sheep, cattle and goats exported by sea and air from Australia during 2017. The report provides a breakdown of mortality trends by ship, species, time of year, load ports and major destinations.

The overall mortality rate for sheep during sea transport to all destinations during 2017 was 0.71% (13,183 mortalities in 1.85 million sheep exported). This was an 11% fall compared the mortality rate of 0.80% observed in 2016. The main ports of loading were Fremantle (88%), followed by Adelaide (11.3%) and Portland (0.7%).

The overall mortality rate for cattle during sea transport to all destinations during 2017 was 0.10% (867 mortalities in 0.86 million cattle exported). This was a 24% fall compared to the mortality rate of 0.13% observed in 2016, and represents a new record low.

No goats were exported by sea from Australia in 2017. Air transport remains the primary mode of carriage for live goat exports from Australia.