Grain deliveries grind to a halt in shutdown

Deliveries of grain to Cooperative Bulk Handling's Albany port terminal from growers in the Albany port zone were bought to a standstill last week during a Statewide shutdown of CBH's $175 million rail fleet.

CBH Group and Brookfield Rail have been embroiled in negotiations for about 18 months over access to more than 5500km of freight rail network which Brookfield leases from the State Government.

The two parties' previous agreement ended at midnight last Thursday, with CBH unable to move grain by rail until midnight Friday, when a new interim deal to December 31 was reached.

CBH operations general manager David Capper said Brookfield's initial access fee increase of up to 36 per cent was negotiated down, but did not disclose the new rate.

He said CBH suffered losses of more than 10,000 tonnes of grain to Albany port during the stoppage, which CBH chief executive Andy Drane called a "devastating blow" to growers during a peak shipping demand period.

Mr Capper said three trains carting a total of 140 grain wagons were disrupted in Albany, with their loads discharged in preparation for the shutdown on Wednesday, fleets relocated to parking spots on Thursday and operations resuming on Saturday.

Plantagenet farmer and WA Farmers' Federation vice-president Lyn Slade described the situation as "appalling" and said Premier Colin Barnett had shown "a lack of leadership" over the issue.

"It is pretty poor a developed country like Australia with a large export industry is not able to get grain to port efficiently," she said.

"I think the State Government should be … trying to rectify the problems with the lease they have created … to address long-term issues of having a rail network fit for purpose.

"My concern for grain growers going forward is … if this is going to be an ongoing problem, I think the State Government needs to step up."

Transport Minister Dean Nalder said he was pleased an interim agreement has been reached.

"I hope they make some progress towards a long-term solution," he said.