April 9, 2009
East Australia grain exports curbed by Queensland train dearth
GrainCorp Ltd. is on track to meet expected exports through its Eastern Australian ports, but shipments from its Fisherman Island terminal at Brisbane Port remain constrained by rail capacity, Corporate Affairs Manager David Ginns said Wednesday (Apr 8).
There are no capacity problems within the terminals, he said. "Rather, there's a dearth of trains," Ginns said.
State-owned Queensland Rail, the monopoly rail provider, is able to supply only one train for 1,900 tonnes of grain delivered a day into Fisherman Island, given the high demand for track time for coal trains, according to Ginns.
As a result, GrainCorp relies on the less-preferred road option, unloading at the terminal about 250 trucks a day for a further 6,500-7,000 tonnes of grain delivered by road from upcountry storage sites, he said.
Southern Queensland has abundant supplies of all grains in upcountry storages in the Port of Brisbane's hinterland following record sorghum and wheat crops in 2008 and another big sorghum crop now being harvested, he said.
An increase in the number of trains available would help GrainCorp, with one extra train a day taking about 70 trucks a day off the road, he added.
The company is approaching the half-way mark of anticipated exports of 3.5 million tonnes in the current fiscal ending Sept. 30. This is a welcome return to around average activity after savage droughts in eastern Australia in 2006 and 2007 cut production, export availability and throughput sharply, Ginns said. "It's tracking along pretty well."
GrainCorp's shipping stem published Tuesday (Apr 7) shows 878,456 tonnes of winter and summer grains scheduled for loading in April for 10 exporters at six of the company's seven export terminals in eastern Australia, with most volumes at Port Kembla, Carrington terminal at Newcastle Port, and Fisherman Island.
Indeed, Fisherman Island will likely post its second-highest volume of exports this fiscal, in excess of 1.5 million tonnes, which is more than double the annual average throughput, though down from one year in the early 1980s when it outloaded 2.0 million tonnes, he said.
