Siba vessel completes record livestock shipment

Siba vessel completes record livestock shipment    Siba Ships, an Italian firm that specializes in the ocean transport of livestock, said its ship Deneb Prima has successfully completed the largest-ever cattle shipment from Australia to Southeast Asia.
   The ship carried 20,060 cattle and 2,564 sheep and goats worth $9.9 million from Townsville, Australia to Indonesia.
   Prior to the Australian cargo Deneb Prima had just completed a trip between New Zealand and Mexico.
   The 51,000 gt Deneb Prima is the world’s largest livestock carrier and can carry 25,000 cattle or 120,000 sheep, or a combination of both, at speeds of more than 20 knots. Originally a container vessel, she was converted to a livestock carrier in 2002 and acquired by the Siba Group in 2006.
   Siba Ships began 40 years ago as a specialist livestock shipment company. Five years ago Mauro Balzarini, Siba chief executive officer, began to diversify into other areas of shipping and today.
   Siba manages a fleet of bulk carriers, some chartered and some owned. The bulk fleet includes 11 Panamaxes, three handymaxes and one product carrier intended for carriage of clean oil products.
   Two more advanced livestock carriers are under construction in Batam, Indonesia, and are slated to join Siba’s fleet next year.