November 5, 2009
Australia's CBH to call tenders for its grain freight work
Western Australia-based grain company Cooperative Bulk Handling Ltd. said Thursday it will call for tenders later this year for its grain freight business.
General Manager Operations Colin Tutt said around eight Australian companies and up to 20 international companies had expressed interest in operating the business.
Australian Railroad Group, a unit of Queensland state government-owned QR Ltd., has the existing operation. Tutt said that hopefully the new tender would go to this company or another Australian company as the move away from ARG would be a "huge risk and big job."
"However, we need to get better performance on rail and we need to reduce freight rates, Tutt said in a statement.
The rail freight business has never been put out to tender before, but now CBH needs "to see what's out in the marketplace," he said.
Further details of the tender weren't available.
CBH operates four coastal export terminals and almost 200 upcountry storage sites in Western Australia.
Growers in the state delivered 12.3 million tonnes of winter crops including wheat, barley, oats, canola and lupins to CBH last crop year ended March 31, nearly all of which was exported.
