Cattle could be shipped across the Kimberley coast for processing in a bid to keep northern WA's only major abattoir and the pastoralists who rely on it afloat.
Extensive flood damage to the Great Northern Highway has left the Kimberley Meat Company abattoir — located between Broome and Derby — inaccessible to pastoralists for several weeks.
While a staged re-opening of parts of the highway began today, damage to the Fitzroy Crossing bridge has left the abattoir cut-off from about 90 per cent of its traditional supply base.
The facility cannot restart operations until it can access a consistent supply of cattle and is haemorrhaging $100,000 a week in staff wages and other costs in the meantime.
KMC chief executive Michael Rapattoni said the business was considering the unprecedented option of shipping live cattle from the East Kimberley to the West Kimberley to provide the facility with enough throughput to viably re-open.
"We have contracted cattle ... and we're looking at potentially sending a boat from Wyndham through to Broome for that contracted cattle," he said.
"We're looking and obviously thinking outside the box here to get a solution."
Live cattle shipments out of the Wyndham Port are common, with boats generally destined for South-East Asian cattle markets.
It would be the first vessel arranged to supply the northern abattoir.
While the idea is still in its infancy, Mr Rapattoni said KMC was working alongside pastoralists to source an appropriate live export vessel and assess associated costs.
He said the industry was hoping for government support to keep the facility, and the producers who depend on it, afloat.
"We're working really hard there as businesses to get a solution and really looking for the government to step up and either subsidise or provide access to these avenues," Mr Rapattoni said.
"We need to be able to plan and execute a plan to get operating as fast as we can."
The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) said the prospect of shipping cattle from the East to West Kimberley was a "commercial proposal" which would have to be considered by businesses involved.
"DPIRD is willing to provide advice and expertise, if requested," a DPIRD spokesperson said.
Mining and Pastoral Region MP Neil Thomson has backed KMC and called on the government to provide financial support.
"The state government, in particular, should be supporting our industry to preserve it into the future," he said.
