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ABC News
18-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Historic wheat shipment ends CBH's 85-year monopoly at Geraldton port
In what is regarded as a sign of growing competition in Western Australia's $10 billion export grain industry, the first shipment of wheat to depart Geraldton independent of the CBH Group sailed last night. CBH is Australia's largest agricultural cooperative and is WA's main grain handler, exporting most of the state's average annual 16 million tonnes of crop. For the past 85 years it had exclusively exported grain from Geraldton, 420 kilometres north of Perth. But after two years of planning, a group of farmers and Andrew Young of Plum Grove Logistics successfully sidelined CBH and loaded 6,800 tonnes of wheat using a mobile conveyor at the Geraldton port. "There have been several attempts over the past decade, but my understanding is this is the first successful attempt at a trial shipment of wheat [at Geraldton] outside of the CBH system," Mr Young said. The grain is bound for a flour mill in Indonesia. The shipment sees Geraldton join other ports such as Albany, Esperance and Bunbury where exports have been conducted independent of CBH. "This is something that's happening across the industry," Mr Young said. "It's a common feature on the east coast. There are about 11 mobile loaders operating across the country." WA exports about 90 per cent of its grain crop through bulk export to more than 30 countries across the world. The CBH Group is owned by WA growers and has investments along the grain supply chain. But some farmers are disgruntled at the cost of exporting grain and have turned their eyes to other export pathways. In a statement, CBH said it was aware of the Plum Grove shipment. "Our focus is on out-loading last year's crop and maintaining a high level of service to our customers around the world while providing value back to WA growers," the statement read. "We are also preparing for the upcoming harvest, investing significantly in the network so it can handle increasing crop sizes consistently and sustainably." Mr Young would not be drawn on the economic outcomes of the Geraldton trial shipment, but said farmers had saved money compared with the usual CBH pathway. "It's not something that's simple — you have to get your export accreditation, you have to get environmental approvals," he said. "You have to work with the port authority and they have been very cooperative, but there are issues on a number of fronts managing this sort of exercise." WA Farmers grains section president Mark Fowler said an injection of competition in the northern end of the grain supply chain and export space was good for WA growers. "I'm talking about CBH mostly here, but improved transparency, it makes the monopoly work harder. There is more direct pricing of the costs that go into the supply chain. It gives growers access to different markets," Mr Fowler said. "There's less middlemen potentially and maybe a greater return of value to growers. "I know of a few cases where those shipments have occurred and the pricing that's been available to growers has reflected that." Mr Fowler said the state was expected to grow more grain in the coming years, particularly with the collapse of the WA sheep industry. He said he did not think exports independent of CBH would jeopardise the critical mass of grain needed for it to continue its current service and plans for the future. "The amount of tonnes we are talking about I don't think are going to be significant enough to undermine what CBH is proposing to do with their reinvestment in the supply chain," he said. Mr Young said there was ambition within the group of Mid West farmers to export more grain, but the first step was to review the effectiveness of the trial. "The coming harvest would be a good opportunity, subject to ensuring all things are working well," he said. "It is a milestone but at the same time there is plenty of work to do to turn it from a trial shipment to something that's more sustainable and provides opportunity for growers in the Geraldton zone."


West Australian
12-06-2025
- Automotive
- West Australian
CBH's train illumination pledge hits a stumbling block
CBH Group's plan to install LED beacon lights on all of its locomotives is 'taking longer than expected', with only 11 of 25 now upgraded despite initial plans to have the works completed by early this year. The farmer-owned co-operative pledged 18 months ago to install LED beacon lights on the front of its locomotives by 'early 2025' in response to a national campaign pushing for improved lighting on trains. Once complete, the upgrades will make CBH an industry leader in train illumination, with trains only required to have headlights and 'ditch lights', which illuminate the side of the track for train driver visibility. CBH's upgrades involve installing 12 new lights on each locomotive — including four on each side, two on the front eyebrow, and two at the rear eyebrow. The company started installing lighting panels on 'current and future locomotives' in October 2023. When probed for an update, CBH chief operations officer Mick Daw told Countryman the works were 'taking longer than expected' but the co-operative remained committed to 'continuing the lighting installation program on our locomotives'. 'The program is progressing well but taking longer than expected,' he said. 'After an extensive design and review process, installation has been aligned to the component change out program. '(This means) when a loco receives a new engine or alternator (it receives the lighting installation), to ensure there is sufficient time to complete each loco with a full upgrade. 'Eleven out of 25 CBH locos have now had the full, three component initiatives installed: that is, LED headlight upgrades, ditch lighting upgrades, and side and brow beacon lighting installed.' Mr Daw revealed CBH was working on a trial of photoluminescent strips on grain wagons to enhance visibility. He said initial trials showed the strips 'did not work as well' as the co-operative had hoped. 'However, our next trial is under way where we have installed alternate yellow and green strips,' he said. 'Independent of the trials, currently every wagon has reflectors on them that reflect vehicle lights when shone on.' The new LED beacon lights will be positioned on narrow and standard-gauge locomotives, which CBH Group believes will enhance train visibility, without compromising the safety of road users or train drivers. The eyebrow lights will flash when the horn is operated, in-sync with the existing bottom ditch light, in the direction of travel. The remaining eight side lights will also illuminate when the horn is sounded, however will remain extinguished all other times. The current lighting configuration on CBH locomotives meets Australian Standards, which feature two headlights, two marker lights, locomotive number lights on the top headboard of the locomotive, and two ditch lights on the bottom. The ditch lights flash when the horn is sounded. The move comes after years of campaigning by a group of 12 families who have lost family in rail-crossing accidents, including four from regional WA — the Jensen, Broad, Smith and Dempster families. The campaign — by the Improve Train Lighting and Level Crossing Safety Group — also called for CBH to bolster lighting and visibility for wagons, which can stretch hundreds of metres behind locomotives with limited lighting and operate on more than 2000km of track in mainly regional WA. Australasian Centre for Rail Innovation's most recent freight train visibility report revealed there were 98 collisions occurring between trains and vehicles at passive crossings between 2015 and 2021. In all, 32 collisions occurred at night with rolling stock (33 per cent) and 55 collisions occurred at passive crossings with rolling stock (56 per cent) day and night combined.


West Australian
09-06-2025
- Business
- West Australian
‘Much needed': Long-awaited upgrades to rail line between Mingenew and Carnamah set to break ground next year
A $67 million project to revamp the rail line between Mingenew and Carnamah will break ground next year after the State Government inked an agreement with rail lessee Arc Infrastructure. It has been four years since the project was announced by WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti in May 2022, as part of a $400m upgrade to WA's grain on rail network funded by the Federal and State governments and farmer-owned CBH Group. Once complete, the 77km-long stretch of track will be able to handle heavier grain trains, which a CBH Group spokesperson was 'much-needed' as the company tries to boost how quickly it can get farmers' grain to port. It is also expected the upgrades will deliver cost savings for all farmers carting grain to bins between the two small towns. 'CBH welcomes the recent agreement between Arc Infrastructure and the State Government to upgrade the Midland Railway between Mingenew and Carnamah,' the CBH spokesperson said. 'The upgrade to the Mingenew to Carnamah line is a much-needed investment in WA's freight rail network, which helps to ensure the long-term viability of our grain growers, the grain industry, and regional WA.' Arc announced on June 3 that it had 'executed an agreement' with the WA Government to deliver the upgrades, with the State and Federal governments tipping in $45m and Arc $22m to complete the work. CBH Group is the sole customer of the line, which is used throughout the year to transport grain to Geraldton Port. Arc's acting chief executive Nathan Speed said the Arc and CBH had agreed on a 'construction methodology' that would result in large sections of the track closed for several months during construction. 'Combined with Arc delivering the work with its internal teams, this methodology reduces the overall project cost by more than $30 million, enabling a more efficient spend of ASCI funding,' he said. 'The parties will work together to ensure that movement of grain is optimised across the network ahead of and during construction outages.' The upgrade will increase the track — which is located along the Midland Line — from a 16 to 19 tonne axle loading, to allow heavier trains and a 20 per cent increase in train carrying capacity. About 400,000 tonnes of grain is carried on the stretch between Carnamah and Mingenew each year, with the Mingenew bin itself receiving a record 646,929 tonnes during the 2022-23 harvest. A statement posted to the Arc website said the project was now in 'delivery phase' and the company had started ordering some of the materials required to complete the upgrade. The upgrade will involve replacing timber sleepers with concrete and steel along about 77km of track, replacing 96km of rail.