The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) will review the use of outdated live export vessels in a bid to improve animal welfare.
This comes amid claims an old ship was to blame for thousands of sheep deaths last year.
In a statement, Federal Minister for Transport Darren Chester confirmed AMSA was reviewing Marine Order 43, which lays out the requirements for ventilation in livestock spaces on ships.
Mr Chester said Australia did not allow substandard ships to trade from Australia.
However, recent media reports revealed that up to 3,000 sheep died from heat stress on a live export ship en route from Fremantle in Western Australia to the Middle East in July 2016.
Mr Chester said the AMSA review would consider removing provisions in Marine Order 43 that currently allow ships built or converted prior to May 2004 to carry livestock without meeting the additional mechanical ventilation requirements.
Part of the review would look specifically at what are called "double-tiered" vessels — where crates carrying livestock, namely sheep, are stacked in double-tiers, rather than single tier decks.
A spokesman for the Australian Livestock Exporters Council (ALEC) told the Country Hour the review was not new and it was not in response to the 2016 sheep deaths.
The ALEC spokesman said the review was ongoing and there was no expectation from industry that there would be any findings or recommendations soon.
He said there were no vessels in the Australian fleet that did not meet the AMSA standards and there had been significant recent investment in the livestock export fleet, including the Middle Eastern sheep fleet.
