By Linda Mantova, photos supplied by Heytesbury and Vroon Holdings

Heytesbury has helped secure the future of Australia’s live cattle export industry with its purchase in May of Livestock Express’ fleet of eleven livestock vessels from Vroon Holdings.

Heytesbury CEO, Paul Holmes a Court, said they now had twelve ships in their fleet of livestock vessels.

“We’ve been in the livestock shipping business for many years through our ownership of the Ocean Swagman. Through that we have come to know and admire the Livestock Express (LE) business and team very much,” Mr Holmes a Court said.

“We saw both an opportunity to expand our business, as well as secure the critical service LE provides to the industry through the purchase.”

Mr Holmes a Court said there would be no change to Heytesbury’s extensive cattle operations.

“The businesses are completely separate so it’s business as usual,” he said.

When asked what advantage this acquisition would be to northern Australian cattle producers, Mr Holmes a Court emphasised its importance for the whole of the country.

“The live trade’s importance extends beyond just the northern cattle industry – it helps secure the entire Australian beef sector,” he said.

“For our sector to be in balance over time, the whole country needs a strong live export industry.

“Just imagine if a million northern cattle weren’t exported live and suddenly had to be trucked south to saleyards and meatworks.”

Questioned about what it meant for the future of the Australian live cattle export industry, Mr Holme a Court said there were lots of important factors.

“However, ensuring the fleet continues to serve the Australian trade is critical,” he said.

“If the fleet had been broken up and sold off, it most likely would have meant the ships repositioning to the Atlantic trade (where margins are higher) leaving our industry without ships.”

Mr Holmes a Court said he hoped the deal would provide security for northern cattle producers.

“Certainly, if the ships had been sold off to other parts of the world, it would have been a very bad situation.

“It’s business as usual for now, and we are continuing to service the Australian market as best we can.”

He said there were no further acquisition plans in the pipeline, but rather they had commenced planning and design works on new vessel builds.

“All ships have a limited lifespan so you need to commit to replacement ships if you want a sustainable business and industry.

“We’re very excited about what this will bring to the market in time.

In a statement released by Vroon on May 11, it was announced that under the agreement, Vroon would divest all eleven of its owned livestock vessels, plus 100pc of its shares in Livestock Express Pte Ltd to Heytesbury, for an undisclosed amount.

Heytesbury will also assume Livestock Express’ Singapore office and its technical management services for third-party vessels.

Vroon CEO Martijn Schouten, said he was proud of everyone who had helped build Livestock Express over the past 60 years into the world’s largest independent livestock carrier, with a fleet of modern, purpose-built vessels.

“With Heytesbury as a strategic owner, we are pleased that all the staff and the legacy of Vroon in the trade are in safe and reputable hands, with a solid outlook for the future.”

Assurance for cattle producers

Another arm of the Heytesbury company owned by Mr Holmes a Court, Heytesbury Pastoral, is one of the major players in the North Australian beef industry, operating cattle stations totalling 30,000 square kilometres in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, and running 165,000 head of pure Brahman cattle across its vast holdings.

Rusty Richter is the general manager operations for Heytesbury Pastoral and has been in that role for just over 16 years.

He has been with the company for almost 30 years and has seen many changes in the cattle industry.

Mr Richter believes the live export trade is here to stay, and is the lifeblood of northern Australia’s cattle game.

He also believes strongly that the purchase of Livestock Express will be of great benefit to the country’s live cattle export business.

“I think it’s massive as it gives assurance to the live export industry,” Mr Richter said.

“There was a real concern among exporters about the availability of shipping. If they (Vroon) had sold to other companies or the ships had been sold off individually, there was a real concern regarding the availability of shipping and exporters getting ships to move cattle,” he said.

With Heytesbury Pastoral selling approximately 40,000 head annually, Mr Richter said about 90-95 per cent of those cattle went to live export.

“It’s a big part of our business, and I guess the other thing is, if we can’t put our cattle into live export, it puts a lot of pressure back onto the domestic market,” he said.

“That puts more cattle back into the domestic market in the eastern states, and to the processors, and it would deflate the local market in Australia.”

Mr Richter said he felt there was a real positivity in the beef industry at present.

“Obviously the market is strong at the moment, and I guess probably something we don’t do well as producers is back our product and promote what we do so well in Australia, with our product,” he said.

Buying in 370 bulls each year, Heytesbury Pastoral has traditionally used Lancefield and Brahrock genetics.

“We have those families that we have been buying bulls off since day dot, so over 30 years, as we very rarely buy out of sales,” Mr Richter said.

“We have good relationships with seed stock producers down in Queensland and we buy them out of the paddock,” he said.

“We buy mainly from Queensland, but we also support a few local Brahman breeders within the territory as well.

“One of the questions that I always get asked is do you think live export is here to stay or are they going to ban it, but I think it’s here to stay.

“It’s an important part of Australia and an important part of our relationship with Indonesia, because we produce a product they need and want.”

“Our live export cattle go predominantly to Indonesia, with a few going into the Philippines and a few into Vietnam as well.”

For more stories from Brahman News, September 2026 follow the link below.
Brahman New September 2026 issue 232