Article: Truckers swamped by crops

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Truckers swamped by crops

Truckers swamped by crops

Simon Kearney | March 06, 2008

AUSTRALIA'S trucking industry is worried it may not have the capacity to move a bumper grain crop this year after rail freight company Pacific National pulled out of serving smaller NSW and Victorian towns.

Australian Road Train Association chief executive Duncan Bremner said the rail pullout and the expectation of a big grain harvest following good rains in Queensland, NSW and Victoria had led to a "perfect storm" for the trucking industry.

"We don't have enough trucks," Mr Bremner said. "With the harvest that is expected the industry is doing the sums and we can't get access to the vehicles. It's just going to be chaos."

The harvest begins in September in Queensland and moves slowly down the country to Victoria, whose grain harvest is in December.

The 2008-09 grain harvest is expected to be significantly bigger than previous years of drought, as higher production and higher prices boost returns.

The Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics expects the wheat harvest alone to rise by nearly 13 million tonnes to just short of 26 million tonnes in 2008-09, worth $4.6billion.

Federal and state transport ministers met last week to discuss the issue.

NSW Transport Minister John Watkins spoke to federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese to ask him to fast-track the creation of a taskforce to look at the problem. The Australian understands the federal Government has given the NSW Government a commitment to do this.

NSW meanwhile has begun looking at upgrading tracks in regional NSW. State Nationals leader Andrew Stoner had said a lack of track maintenance was behind the pullout.

Pacific National, which is a subsidiary of Asciano, a spin-off of transport giant Toll Holdings, will ship grain from hubs such as Moree in northern NSW but not from the smaller grain handling facilities in surrounding towns on branch lines.

Pacific National was reportedly losing $3 million a month in Victoria and NSW and blamed rundown and inefficient regional lines. The Land newspaper reported 200 staff were set to be stood down as a result.

Mr Bremner said the company had decided to use the extra engines and wagons to haul coal.

Sydney-based grain handler GrainCorp was reportedly in discussions with Pacific National about the rail freight problem.

Pacific National could have to repay $70 million to the NSW Government as part of a discount offered to the private buyer of the old state-run grain freight company Freightcorp.

Pacific National did not return The Australian's calls yesterday.

Adding to the problems are recent changes to commonwealth truck registration charges.

Mr Bremner said a B-Double truck configuration would now cost $14,000 to register, compared with $5000 for a semi-trailer, leading many in the industry to opt for a semi-trailer with less capacity.

He said this could be one of a number of factors driving an increase in sales of heavy commercial vehicles this year, with drivers opting to purchase another truck rather than a two-trailer configuration.