KWINANA, AUSTRALIA — CBH Group has added 600,000 tonnes of shipping capacity for bid at its Kwinana grain terminal. The additional capacity brings the total fiscal year 2023 shipping capacity to 17 million tonnes (plus 10% tolerance), which is more than last year’s 16.3 million tonnes (plus 10% tolerance).  

Mick Daw, chief operations officer at CBH, said the company worked hard to improve the road and rail performance at the terminal in order to add the additional capacity, particularly in the Kwinana zone.

“Our road performance has remained strong over the past couple of months, and pleasingly, our rail performance has continued to improve over the past six weeks,” Daw said. “Our rail provider, Aurizon, has started to get some good consistent tonnes to port, which has given us the confidence to consistently increase the shipping capacity offered to the market.

“The market is obviously really keen to get as much capacity as they can with current conditions and demand, so this is a fantastic outcome from the CBH team, our road and rail contractors and growers who have helped to achieve this.”

In addition to the extra shipping capacity, the carry-over position also has continued to decrease, CBH said.

“Due to the team’s continuous efforts and the soft start to harvest, we have managed to reduce the carry position to less than 3.5 million tonnes, and this figure is expected to continue to decrease over the coming weeks,” Daw said.

According to CBH, the additional capacity will be released in one instance and spread across several tranches over the shipping season, with marketers able to participate in the release through the First in First Serve (FIFS) release.

Between Oct. 1, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2022, CBH Operations delivered a record 18.1 million tonnes to customers, with 16.7 million tonnes exported, 1 million tonnes outturned to domestic markets, and 400,000 tonnes exported by containers. CBH said the totals surpass the previous annual shipping record set in 2016-17 by 11% and the previous domestic outturn record set in 2007-08 by 8%.

The Albany, Esperance and Geraldton zones each shipped more than ever before, with Kwinana within 3% of the 2016-17 record, CBH said.