CBH announces plans to shift grain on rail in the Esperance Port Zone for the first time in four years

Farmers fed up with grain price differentials have welcomed news that rail will be used to transport grain from CBH Group’s bins to the Esperance Port for the first time in four years. Countryman can today reveal that CBH plans to start shifting grain from its Grass Patch and Salmon Gums bins along the West Kalgoorlie to Esperance line in the next four weeks. The move comes as CBH leaders try to improve how quickly it can transport grain to port and boost prices members after a period of backlash from its grower members in the Esperance Port Zone. Some farmers took aim at CBH in December over large price differentials being offered to farmers in WA’s different port zones, with Esperance Port Zone farmers for weeks offered $60/t less for APW, H2 and H1 classes of wheat to those in the Kwinana Port Zone. CBH told growers the price differential was in part due to Esperance shipping slots largely being covered after it received a harvest 25 per cent bigger than ever before, at 21.3mt. CBH chief operations officer Mick Daw said the company was able to offer rail to Esperance farmers — who harvested a whopping 4.18Mt in 2021-22 — for the first time since 2018 after securing three additional fleets of trains. The last of three fleets provided by CBH’s new rail services provider Aurizon will be deployed to the Esperance Port Zone to cart grain from the Grass Patch and Salmon Gums bins. They are the only two bins in the zone equipped for grain on rail, with all of the others only suitable for or located along roads for trucking to the Esperance Port. “The three Aurizon fleets have provided an additional opportunity to use rail to gain outloading efficiencies at sites across our network, which has allowed us to release additional shipping capacity recently,” Mr Daw said. “We anticipate starting rail operations in Esperance within the next month, and depending on scheduling and outloading preference, can outturn grain from Grass Patch and Salmon Gums. “CBH has used rail in Esperance previously to help during larger harvest years, and we welcome the additional capacity as we continue with our record export program.” WAFarmers grains council president Mic Fels, who farms at Wittenoom Hills near Esperance, said he understood CBH would use trains to deliver grain into the Esperance Port “around the clock”. Regulations set by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation - in a bid to limit noise - mean trucks are banned from entering the port between 11pm and 6am. Mr Fels said he understood being able to access the port overnight would enable CBH to offer an additional 200,000 tonnes to its Esperance shipping stem, a figure CBH declined to confirm. “Esperance harvests are consistently huge these days… so anything we can do to get grain to port more quickly is a good thing,” Mr Fels said. “This will benefit growers by giving them better prices for their grain… we are not receiving global pricing at the moment because we can’t get enough grain to port to satisfy the market.” Mr Fels said the Esperance Port Zone had “evolved a system that doesn’t rely on rail” but bumper harvests meant it made sense for CBH Group to deploy trains to get grain to the port when required. “There is a limit to how much you can move on road and in a year like this,” he said. “It is sound strategy, to have rail there when you need it but not when you don’t. It is a good plan.” Munglinup farmer Greg Kenny was one of many growers affected by the shipping bottleneck at the Esperance Port, saying prices were also often $60 to $70 per tonne below ports in the Eastern States. He said the move would also free up trucks to transport more grain from other bins across zone. “It is good to see grain back on that line, it complements the port beautifully because of the hours it can deliver,” Mr Kenny said. “My only criticism is that this should have been up and running a long time ago. “The flow on effect will be that there will be more tonnes delivered to the port and reducing the bottleneck will create more capacity for grain ships to come in.” Esperance farmer Matt Hill — who let rip at CBH in a story in Countryman over the price differentials in December — said CBH needed to “get the logistics right” to get grain on ships in time. “The infrastructure at the port is sufficient, but the bottleneck is getting grain to port,” he said. “I hope this will address some of those price issues. CBH has certainly indicated that they would be able to move more tonnes, which will hopefully increase the price also. “I have also heard they will offer an additional 200t of extra shipping in the first half of the year.” CBH has deployed trains to the Esperance Port Zone several times during the past decade — with the last period in 2018 — usually for what a spokeswoman said were “short campaigns” of three months.