Live cattle

A new commitment to diversification

The Port of Tarragona is one of the two Spanish ports authorised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and the Environment for the loading of livestock.

This service was initiated in 2012 with ministerial authorisation and the construction of a special facility for loading livestock. The livestock facilities of the Port of Tarragona are equipped with all the necessary services for loading live animals in conditions of animal welfare, with veterinarian inspection, triage area and open areas for inspecting trucks, and provide a good example of the goods diversification that the Port is promoting in order to become more competitive.

Moving live animals from the Port of Tarragona has made it possible to export directly from Tarragona without having to transfer the livestock to the South of Spain. This has resulted in cost savings due to the reduction of costs, transport and time for all the players in the northern half of Spain, both in the Catalonia-Aragon area, as well as for the rest of Spain and southern France.

BOVINE CATTLE

OVINE CATTLE

GOAT CATTLE

The exponential growth of exports

Since 2012, the year that the movement of this traffic began, more than 2,300,000 head of livestock have been exported, in more than 700 special vessels.

The export of live animals to Eastern countries, big consumers of beef and lamb, has increased the movement of this traffic exponentially in recent years.

The main destinations have been countries in the Mediterranean basin, including especially Libya, Lebanon, Algeria, Egypt and Turkey.

It is also possible to export to those countries with whom the corresponding agreements and authorisations by Spain and the European Community are in effect.

The largest export volume of livestock has been in sheep, followed by cattle and goats.

Strict control measures

It should be mentioned that this traffic is especially sensitive, due to the impact that any incident in collective health can have, and therefore strict protective health measures are applied to prevent the spread of possible diseases and situations involving health alarms.

For this reason the facility complies with all environmental and animal welfare requirements, in order to ensure maximum safety.

Moreover, the animal health and control facilities are located very close to the livestock loading area, thereby facilitating the operation.