Livestock Carrier Spiridon II Stranded Off Turkey as Ear Tag Dispute Leaves 2,900 Cattle Aboard

A Livestock carrier has been stranded of the coast of Turkey since October 22 after it was denied offloading due to irregularities in the ear tag documentation. According to MarineInsights, the Turkish Authorities found 500 mismatches when checking the ear tags with the documentation. The carrier, identified as Spiridon II, which came from Uruguay with 2901 cattle, remains anchored of the port of Bandirma in Turkey.

The Spiridon II, built in 1973 was converted into a livestock carrier in 2011. It is registered in Togo and managed from Lebanon. In 2022, the ship suffered an engine failure near Spain while carrying thousands of animals, which had to be transferred to another vessel, according to MarineInsights.

Feed and Water Supplies are Running at Critical Numbers

The shipowner states that 48 animals have died so far and feed and water supplies are at a critical low. According to Splash, several Animal rights organization has appealed to the Turkish authirities to allow the immediate unloading of the surviving animals. Last night it was allowed to enter the port to restock on water and feed supplies before it was sent back out to the anchorage.

Running on Overtime

According to AIS data in ShipAtlas, the cattle has been on the carrier since September 12 when it left the port of Montevideo in Uruguay. Making the time locked up to almost 2months. As of now the Spiridon II has been anchored off the coast of Turkey for almost two weeks.