Page 6 - STAT August 2022 for Magzter

coverstory

previous event that affected the live animal
transport sector – Brexit.
According to Filip Vande Capelle, CEO
and Founder of European Horse Services
(EHS) and past president of the Animal
Transport Association (ATA), a geopolitical
event that affected the live animal transport
sector was Brexit which led to regulatory
changes in shipping horses. “Brexit has
changed the procedures for shipping of
horses, and live animals in general, drasti-
cally. For animal welfare, this is not a step
in the right direction as waiting times and
total travel times have increased consider-
ably. For owners, riders and trainers, it is a
real burden since many of them still do not
know the exact procedures and are often
confronted with problems, delays of ship-
ments and even cancellations. Not to talk
about the financial impact where the costs
for shipping a horse from, let’s say south of
England to central Europe has risen from
Another cause of concern is animal safety some £300 in pre-Brexit times to £800 and
during transport. Charles McMullen, director more, only because of the extra costs in
of Intradco Global, which specialises in live paperwork and controls. To top it all, owners
animal transport, spoke to us about the are also confronted with VAT and Import du-
most stressful part of live animal transport ties in some cases.”
in the aviation sector. “The most stressful Outlining the scenario before Brexit,
part during the transfer of the animals is Vande Capelle said, “In pre-Brexit times, all
usually at the loading and offload periods. one needed to do was to apply for a stand-
It’s important to minimise the stress for the ard export health certificate which, together
animal at this period.” with your horse’s passport, allowed you to
According to the market research firm Live animals are travel between all Member States. Horses
Fortune Business Insights, “Europe's animal among the most moving between the UK, Ireland and France
transportation market size stood at $408.46 did not even need that health certificate,
million in 2019 and is projected to reach difficult cargo to thanks to a tri-partite agreement between
$516.75 million by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of those countries.”
4.3% during the forecast period.” transport, presenting
In light of this robust growth, we decided a number of unique Pandemic problems
to dig deeper and delve into the challenges The pandemic, however, seemed to emerge
that the sector faces. challenges as each as the biggest hurdle for live animal trans-
Experts we reached out to agreed that port. We turned to McMullen for answers.
the sector was battered by operational type of animal has McMullen felt that when the pandemic
backdrops like geopolitical events and its own specific first hit, it was the live animal's sector that
the pandemic, with trade still affected as took the biggest blow. He explained that to
importers and exporters remain wary of an- requirements. look at how the sector was impacted, one
other epidemic outbreak. Despite this, live had to look at it through a timeline. “You'd
animal transport continues to forge ahead, John O’Grady have to look at it on a timeline. When the
Etihad Cargo
showing resilience in its adaptation to the pandemic first hit, live animal transport
new normal. was probably the worst-hit sector. This was
to coincide with major equine events and because the whole world was speculating
Horse-powered transport the horse-racing season. For pets, the peak that maybe animals are also a transmitter of
O’Grady commented on the peak season for season in the UAE tends to align with school Covid-19.”
horse transport, which lasted for a whop- holiday periods, especially in the summer.” He said that at that point, while cargo
ping six months. “For the transportation of With another geopolitical conflict was still flying, live animal transport was at
horses, there is a six-month peak season for currently underway, we attempted to un- a standstill. “I would say for two months, no
east-to-west and then west-to-east travel derstand how the sector recovered from a live animal cargo was flying.
4 | AUGUST 2022 www.stattimes.com