WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti says WA ports and rail under pressure

Speaking at the WAFarmers annual conference at Mineral Resource Park, Lathlain, last Friday, WA Minister Rita Saffioti acknowledged the "massive demand" on WA's ports and said this pressure would increase over the next few years, due to a proliferation of new resources projects being identified and developed across the State, including those in the Yilgarn area.

She offered little in the way of reassurance to WA's agricultural sector, which exports 80-90 per cent of its annual grain production to more than 50 countries, highlighting long-term investments and projects which will take many years to be completed and for their flow-on benefits to be felt by the State's export industries.

These long-term port efficiency projects included a $350 million investment at the Geraldton port as well as the Westport program, designed to transition the State's exports from the Inner Harbour in Fremantle to the Outer Harbour in Kwinana, which is still only in its planning stages.

Port inefficiencies

In a clear example of the inefficiencies of WA's ports, Beverley farmer Jeff Murray highlighted WA Meat Marketing Co-operative Limited's (WAMMCO) admission at their recent annual general meeting that it had railed containers of lamb to the east coast, so the chilled product could reach its destined export markets within a reasonable use-by date.

"We're adjacent to the port and we're railing it across the country," Mr Murray said.

Ms Saffioti said she was not aware of the issue and was "surprised" it was occurring, but acknowledged it typified some of the challenges at WA's ports.

WAFarmers Grains section president Mark Fowler also raised concerns about the monopoly service being provided by Danish tugboat giant Svitzer at Fremantle port with the minister, pointing to the company's threat to lock out its tugboat operators due to an industrial dispute with maritime unions in December last year.

While the potentially huge ramifications for WA's grains export industry were narrowly avoided when the Fair Work Commission stepped in and suspended all industrial action from both sides for six months, Mr Fowler asked Ms Saffioti what was being done to prevent the situation reoccurring.

Ms Saffioti said it was not practical to have two companies servicing a port in some cases, she acknowledged having a monopoly service provider created an "area of vulnerability" and it was a long-term structural issue for WA's ports.

On planning for the new Kwinana port, she said the government was assessing whether more competition could be brought in.

"We are looking at how we can reduce some of those vulnerabilities in relation to the amount of companies operating out of that (Kwinana port)," Ms Saffioti said.

"But having better relations across the different stakeholders at the port continues to be a challenge for all of us - whether it be the government, industry or the ports themselves."

Less talk, more action on Tier 3

While site works began last month at Brookton on the first of 11 rail siding upgrades promised as part of the State and Federal government funded $200 million Agricultural Supply Chain Improvement Program (ASCI), the Liberals WA Agricultural Region MP Steve Martin said the State was dragging its feet on providing any information about the potential recommissioning of the rail line for the Narrogin-Kulin-Wickepin area, for which $72m in ASCI funding had already been allocated.

Speaking to Farm Weekly at the WAFarmers conference, Mr Martin said the industry needed to "see some action and not more words".

"Transport Minister Rita Saffioti has some questions to answer - will the $72m get the line to Kulin re-opened?" Mr Martin said.

"If the $72m only funds part of the job, how many extra tonnes of agricultural produce will be shipped by rail?

"Does the minister have a commitment from the Federal Labor government for a second round of ACSI?"

Mr Martin said if Ms Saffioti was aware the business case for the potential recommissioning of the line was more expensive than first anticipated, there was the potential to spend that ASCI funding on regional roads instead.

"The minister needs to spend the available ASCI funding on the best possible freight project and support the agriculture industry to make the case to her Federal Labor colleagues that a second round of ASCI is desperately needed," he said.

"If our road networks are being smashed, perhaps they might be a useful owner for some of that $72m."

Ms Saffioti told conference delegates a technical study into engineering works as well as a full business case for the Narrogin-Kulin line were both "underway".

"It's an area that was identified as a priority because the grain freight cost is currently high due to the road distance," Ms Saffioti said.

"It's also an area where we've seen the development of a new mining opportunity, which will also help underpin the usage and business case of that rail line."

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The Moora and Cranbrook rail siding upgrades are due to begin construction this year and expected to be completed by 2024 while the seven remaining sites of Avon (Meenaar), Kellerberrin, Dowerin, Konnongorring, Ballidu, Mingenew and Perenjori North are expected to break ground during 2024.

As part of the ASCI program, $60m has also been allocated to upgrade the main Midland rail line between Carnamah and Mingenew.

Ms Saffioti said getting the ASCI projects off the ground had been challenging due to the State's labour shortages.

"These upgrades are gaining momentum, but it always takes a bit longer than you would hope," she said.