The CBH Group – commonly known as CBH, an acronym for Co-operative Bulk Handling – is an organisation that operates the vast majority of cereal grain receival points in Western Australia (WA). A cooperative owned by farmers, CBH also stores, transports, processes and markets grain from throughout the Wheatbelt region of WA.
History
CBH was formed on 5 April 1933, at a time when a royal commission on bulk handling of grain was in progress, and after over 20 years of failed proposals for bulk handling of grain in Western Australia.Western Australia was by no means unique – there had been Royal Commissions into Bulk Handling of grain in other states – Victoria in 1902 for example
The trustees of the Wheat Board of Western Australia and Wesfarmers registered the company together with capital of £100,000 divided evenly into 100,000 shares.See also the history of Western Australian Farmers Federation that shows the relationship between the WAFF, CBH and Wesfarmers The cooperative was formed under the principle of one person, one vote, regardless of the amount of grain supplied.
CBH merged with the Grain Pool in November 2002, after the Parliament of Western Australia passed legislation allowing the merger to go ahead.
In 2016, the Australian Taxation Office revealed that despite generating more than $3.4 billion in revenue in 2013/14, the company paid no tax. This made it Australia's biggest revenue earner not to pay tax in the period under review.
Transport
During the early years most grain movement was by rail over the Western Australian Government Railways network, with sidings and branch lines specifically serving wheat growing areas. Many of the branch lines and rail facilities have not been updated or maintained, with road transport increasing in many areas.
In 2009, CBH decided to put its rail grain haulage services out to tender for the first time.Bidding underway for WA grain rail management Rail Express 11 November 2009Tender plans for rail future ABC News 18 November 2009 It aimed that the amount of grain transported by rail rise from 50% to 70%.Asciano in $700m grain bid The Australian 30 August 2010 CBH settled on a business model that saw it invest in new locomotives and grain wagons, with day-to-day operations contracted out.Locomotives roll off production line and wagons hit the WA shore CBH Group March 2012Major new investment in WA grains industry Agriculture & Food Minister 24 August 2012
In December 2010, CBH awarded Watco Australia a ten-year contract to operate services in the south of Western Australia.Watco wins CBH Group rail contract The Sunday Times 13 December 2010US group wins CBH contract from QR National The Australian 14 December 2010Watco wins CBH grain rail contract Rail Express 15 December 2010 To operate the services, CBH purchased 22 CBH class locomotives from MotivePower, Boise and 574 grain wagons from Bradken, Xuzhou.New wagons hit the Western Australian shore CBH Group 9 February 2012WA grain industry takes ownership of first rail fleet Rail Express 29 August 2012
Under the agreement, Watco was responsible for providing a comprehensive rail logistics planning service, including train planning and scheduling, tracking, maintenance, inventory control, and crew management.CBH, Watco mark anniversary of moving grain on rail World Grain 3 April 2013 Watco operated and maintained the rolling stock, with ownership remaining with CBH.
The services link various CBH grain collection points in the wheatbelt with CBH terminal and port facilities in Albany, Geraldton, Esperance and Kwinana.Receival Site Map CBH Group CBH operate on the Arc Infrastructure managed open access network.ERA to mediate CBH, Brookfield rail talks Business News 31 October 2013
Although the contract officially commenced on 1 May 2012, Watco operated its first service on 30 March 2012.CBH, Watco rail agreement starts early World Grain 2 April 2012CBH grain wagons go to work early Farm Weekly 5 April 2012First train runs from Merredin Merredin-Wheatbelt Mercury 12 April 2012 Because of a delay in the delivery of the rolling stock, QR National continued to operate some gauge services until October 2012,Annual Report June 2013 Aurizon while to operate standard gauge services, locomotives were hired from Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia and SCT Logistics.Annual Report September 2012 CBH Group A further three locomotives were delivered in 2015 as compensation for late delivery of the original order.CBH pushes market limits The West Australian 23 December 2013
In October 2013, CBH referred an ongoing dispute with the network owner Brookfield Rail over track access prices and the state of the network to the Economic Regulation Authority.CBH, Brookfield off to ERA Rail Express 6 November 2013Consultation Brookfield Rail Pty Ltd Floor and Ceiling Cost Determination Economic Regulation Authority 6 January 2014 In December 2017 CBH Group expanded its locomotive fleet purchasing 10 DB class locomotives from Aurizon.MotivePower Roundup Motive Power issue 115 January 2018 page 106Diesels expand CBH's loco fleet Farm Weekly 18 March 2018
When next tendered, the contract was awarded to Aurizon for six years with an option to extend to 10 years. Aurizon introduced a further three sets of wagons to the 10 owned by CBH.Aurizon and CBH sign long-term agreement for WA grain haulage Aurizon 6 August 2021CBH chooses Aurizon as rail services provider Rail Express 13 August 2021 Although scheduled to transition in May 2022, all parties agreed to bring the handover date forward to September 2021.CBH seeks a rail new deal Farm Weekly 14 April 2021Grain contracts change hands in Western Australia The Railway Magazine issue 1447 October 2021 page 106
Locomotive Fleet Class Image Type Gauge Top speed(km/h) Built Number Units NotesOwned FleetCBH classDiesel-electricStandard, Cape902011-2012, 201525CBH001 - CBH017CBH023 - CBH025CBH118 - CBH122New Build. CBH001 - CBH017 and CBH023 - CBH025 configured for Cape gauge.CBH118 - CBH122 configured for Standard gauge.200 classDiesel-electricCape1002025-202617201-217New Build.300 classDiesel-electricStandard10020267301-307New Build.Previous FleetDBZ classDiesel-electricCape901982-198310DBZ2301 - DBZ2308DBZ2312 - DBZ2313Acquired from Aurizon in 2017. Sold to Watco Australia in 2024.
Tonnages In 1999/2000 season CBH received a record amount of grain, 12.2 million tonnes in all, made up of 11 different grain types.
CBH received a new record harvest of 14.7 million tonnes from grain growers in Western Australia during the 2003/2004 season. This record was broken in 2013/14, with 15.8 million tonnes of grain handled by January 2014.Grain growers CBH back to best after record WA harvest The Australian 23 January 2014Western Australian bulk handler and the nation's biggest grain exporter CBH Group posts a near-record Profit The Weekly Times 3 February 2014
New records were set in the 2016/17 season when the company received 16.6 million tonnes of grain. The company expected over $5 billion to have been pumped into the Western Australian economy as a result of the record harvest. A new record for the month of December was set with 831,000 tonnes of grain moved to port via rail. The highest monthly shipping record was also broken in January with 1.88 million tonnes shipped out. The previous monthly shipping record of 1.66 million tonnes had been set in February 2014.
Harvest management
Historically the CBH system had up to 300 receival pointsIn 1965 the maximum was reached of 305 sites – – in most cases tied into the Western Australian Government Railways railway network, as the railway lines were the prime grain transport method.
By the 2000s, the number of receival points had been reduced to less than 200 and the locations of the receival points became part of a system of management zones:
Albany zone Esperance zone Geraldton zone Kwinana zone
Each zone is further broken down into areas.
References
Further reading
External links