The CBH Group (commonly known as CBH, an
acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
for Co-operative Bulk Handling), is a grain growers'
cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
that handles, markets and processes
grain
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...
from the
wheatbelt of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
.
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.
The trustees of the Wheat Board of Western Australia and
Wesfarmers
Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue o ...
registered the company together with capital of £100,000 divided evenly into 100,000 shares. 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 of WA in November 2002, after the
Parliament of Western Australia
The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Western Australia, forming the legislative branch of the Government of Western Australia. The parliament consists of a lower house, the Legislative Ass ...
passed legislation allowing the merger to go ahead.
In 2016, the
Australian Taxation Office
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is an Australian statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian Government. The ATO has responsibility for administering the Australian federal taxation system, superannuati ...
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
Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra responsi ...
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 2009 It aimed that the amount of grain transported by rail rise from 50% to 70%.
[ CBH settled on a business model that saw it invest in new locomotives and grain wagons, with day-to-day operations contracted out.
In December 2010, CBH awarded ]Watco Australia
Watco Australia is a rail haulage operator that was formed in 2010 to haul grain for the CBH Group in Western Australia. In 2019, it commenced operating in Queensland under a contract with GrainCorp. It is a subsidiary of Watco.
History
In 200 ...
a ten-year contract to operate services in the south of Western Australia. To operate the services, CBH purchased 22 CBH class
The CBH class is a class of diesel-electric freight locomotives designed and manufactured in the United States by MotivePower in Boise, Idaho, for Western Australian grain growers' co-operative CBH Group.
The CBH class was ordered to haul gra ...
locomotives from MotivePower
MotivePower, Inc. (MPI) is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wabtec, and traces its history back to the MK Rail division of Morrison-Knudsen.
History
Morrison-Knudsen establ ...
, Boise
Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area's ...
and 574 grain wagons from Bradken, Xuzhou
Xuzhou (徐州), also known as Pengcheng (彭城) in ancient times, is a major city in northwestern Jiangsu province, China. The city, with a recorded population of 9,083,790 at the 2020 census (3,135,660 of which lived in the built-up area ma ...
.
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. 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
Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth.
At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...
, Esperance and Kwinana. CBH operate on the Arc Infrastructure
Arc Infrastructure (previously known as Brookfield Rail and WestNet Rail) is a transport infrastructure owner and access provider in Western Australia with a long-term lease on the network from the Government of Western Australia. It operates a ...
managed open access
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...
network.
Although the contract officially commenced on 1 May 2012, Watco operated its first service on 30 March 2012. Because of a delay in the delivery of the rolling stock, QR National continued to operate some gauge services until October 2012, while to operate standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
services, locomotives were hired from Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia and SCT Logistics
SCT Logistics is an Australian interstate transport company operating rail and road haulage, with facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Parkes, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
History
SCT Logistics was founded in 1974 as Specialised Container Tran ...
. A further three locomotives were delivered in 2015 as compensation for late delivery of the original order.
In October 2013, CBH referred an ongoing dispute with the network owner Brookfield Rail
Arc Infrastructure (previously known as Brookfield Rail and WestNet Rail) is a transport infrastructure owner and access provider in Western Australia with a long-term lease on the network from the Government of Western Australia. It operates ...
over track access prices and the state of the network to the Economic Regulation Authority. In December 2017 CBH Group expanded its locomotive fleet purchasing 10 DB class locomotives from Aurizon.
When next tendered, the contract was awarded to Aurizon
Aurizon ( ) is a freight rail transport company in Australia, formerly named QR National. it was the world’s largest rail transporter of coal from mine to port. Formerly a Queensland Government-owned company, it was privatised and floated o ...
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. Although scheduled to transition in May 2022, all parties agreed to bring the handover date forward to September 2021.
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.
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 points – in most cases tied into the Western Australian Government Railways
Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra responsi ...
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
Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth.
At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...
zone
* Kwinana zone
Each zone is further broken down into areas.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*{{official website, https://www.cbh.com.au/
Grain industry of Western Australia
Australian companies established in 1933
Grain companies
Cooperatives in Australia
Freight railway companies of Australia
Privately held companies of Australia