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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-09-04 Daily Xml
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OUTER HARBOR GRAIN TERMINAL

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:25): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries a question about Viterra's broken shiploader.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: On 30 August ABC radio reported that the shiploader at the Outer Harbor grain export terminal, operated by Viterra, broke down on 22 July this year. The mystery breakdown of the shiploader has occurred only 30 months after the new $150 million state-of-the-art deep sea grain terminal at Outer Harbor was officially opened. According to the report in The Advertiser on 10 August, repairs were carried out after the first breakdown on 16 July but the shiploader broke again shortly afterwards. Four ships have been affected by the closure and forced to load at Viterra's other ports.

Mr Darren Arney, CEO of Grain Producers SA, spoke to ABC radio that growers are concerned in that there is not really a time line around when this will be repaired and whether it will be repaired in time for harvest. Mr Arney also said that PIRSA's budget has been cut in previous years, that there are issues around research and development and that there are issues around transport and logistics. My questions to the minister are:

1. Has the minister done a risk assessment in terms of the impact of Viterra's broken shiploader on SA grain exports?

2. Since the state government has reported that it is going to be able to fill the gap created by the shelving of the Olympic Dam expansion with things such as our agricultural sector, has the minister consulted with Viterra regarding a repair time line in time for harvest?

3. What measures has the minister put in place to address the concerns of South Australian grain growers to ensure that there is continuity of exports?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (15:28): I thank the honourable member for her most important questions. Members would be aware, I am sure, that there was a major breakdown of the shiploader at the 30 month old Outer Harbor grain exporting terminal that I understand occurred in July. It is now expected to be out of service for some time. I am told that Viterra provided notice to grain exporters of a force majeure and have redirected ships to load export grain cargoes at other South Australian grain ports so that the grain exporting program is not affected.

The most recent PIRSA estimate for the 2012-13 grain crop production is 6.9 million tonnes, which is near the long-term average, and this follows the 7.9 million tonnes in the 2011-12 grain crop. The new season grain crop is expected to commence mid to late September, peaking during November-December in the Port Adelaide capture zone. Viterra, I am advised, is assessing the damage and, once that is completed, the company will be able to provide an estimate of the time required to prepare the loader.

I am advised that the breakdown is not expected to impact on grain grower receivals for the new season's crop at this stage and if, for some reason, Viterra is not able to have it completed within that period, I have been advised that Viterra will revert to managing grain exports in the same way as it did three years ago prior to the commissioning of that new terminal.

Viterra has reported exporting record volumes of grain through the Australian grain export terminals, and I am told that the record-breaking grain export program has left sufficient storage capacity to accommodate the new 2012-13 season crop. Outer Harbor provides sufficient storage to cater for just-in-time shiploading, with Inner Harbor catering for around 300,000 tonnes of grain grower deliveries annually, and obviously the breakdown of the shiploader will require changes to the logistics of managing export cargoes until the shiploader is back online.

Smaller vessels can be loaded, I am advised, at Inner Harbor, but the loss of the ability to load the larger vessels at Outer Harbor will potentially cause congestion. There is some capacity for other ports to be used to top up larger vessels to part fill at lower capacity ports. There are also issues around grain growers transporting their own grain to port, but I believe that these arrangements have been put in place. As I said, we are expecting that the grain loader will be back in action for the next grain season.

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