Getting WA’s massive harvest from bin to Port

Dilemmas ensue after Western Australia’s bumper harvest with multiple supply chain issues resulting from the 21.3mt record, which was 30 per cent higher than its previous record.

This means there is the need to ship at least another two million tonnes of grain, more than has ever been done before.

CBH have a significant export task ahead in 2022 with 17mt of shipping capacity from their own system fully booked by exporters of WA grain.

The most CBH had ever shipped previously was 15mt and to date this year it has already exported 6mt.

The other problem is getting the extra harvest from bin to Port and the farmers have been called to help – however, the reality is that most of them are short of staff themselves.

CBH CEO Mick Daw outlined in a letter sent to growers that four options were available to them to help solve this problem. 1. Growers can subcontract to a CBH road contractor and receive retention incentives paid directly by CBH 2. Growers could take grain from a CBH site to Port and back haul their lime or fertiliser to farm 3. Farmers could lease their prime mover or trailer to Cropline Haulage and would be guaranteed minimum revenue and agreed profit share per net tonne kilometre (NTK) 4. Growers can directly contract to CBH and cart grain for select routes

There is no quick fix here however it is a matter obtaining the best price which usually means selling it quickly. Hundreds of millions of dollars can be lost if the grain is not sold at the right time.

Thankfully our Ports have more than enough capacity however, it is expected with improved farming practices, including new drought tolerant lines that another huge season is a reality.

CBH has also talked about storage which may be a good idea for WA farmers getting the best prices considering the global situation. Russia and Ukraine account for a quarter of the global wheat trade. Ukraine face the battle of planting their crops through an invasion and purchasing Russian products is off the card. It is expected that global agricultural commodities will increase in price.

Some feel that the state problem of moving the extra crop from bin to Port will end up being sorted out by the WA Transport industry. W ith another successful ‘Transport Safety Forum’ under their belt, 26th to be precise TRANSAFE WA bought together nine presenters who provided thoughtprovoking and informative content that was well received by the forum participants.

Some of the forum highlights included Dr Vanessa Bowden, a human factors researcher and lecturer from The University of Western Australia who had participants wowed with the statement, "You cannot multi-task".

Dr Bowden went on to prove this in her presentation.

Paul McGuire from Nationwide Training covered the latest on Chain of Responsibility (CoR). Niomi Hurley from Get Up and Grow presented on The Importance of Psychological Safety and touched on risk management and duty of care amongst other valuable areas.

Teresa Williams shared a very moving and thought provoking presentation called IF which left antendees all to reflect on their own 'what if' questions. Mick Wainwright from the Main Roads Heavy Vehicle Services provided us with the latest HVS updates.

Dr Laura Fruhen from The University of Western Australia gave a presentation on Leading for Safety that highlighted that for a safety culture to be successful it needs to be led from the top.

Engel Prendergast who represented Injury Matters spoke about Investing in Mental and Physical Health and had the participants partake in a breathing and relaxation exercise.

Leigh Farrow from Teletrac Navman shared the latest developments in Driver Electronic Work Diary Solutions. Nick Fox from Alcolizer Technology presented on Managing Alcohol and Drug Abuse in the Workplace and shared some interesting statistics.

A great variety of fresh topics were covered at the forum and looking after our mental and physical health emerged as a common theme amongst the presentations. For more information on Transafe WA visit transafewa.com.au

The other problem is getting the extra harvest from bin to Port and the farmers have been called to help – however, the reality is that most of them are short of staff themselves