Iron Road and EPCBH to establish grains export business

EPCBH’s primary objective is to improve the competitiveness of the region’s grain industry by using a collaborative approach to enhance returns to growers and farm businesses. At the time of EPCBH’s formation, the group expressed its intention to negotiate a partnership with Iron Road and visited the proposed port site at Cape Hardy with Iron Road to develop a better understanding of the opportunities a multi-commodity port could provide.

The MoU with EPCBH is complementary to an existing partnership with Emerald Grain, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo, where the two parties are working together to develop a new grain distribution and supply chain network using Iron Road’s planned rail and port facilities at Cape Hardy.

Iron Road Managing Director, Andrew Stocks, reiterated that the Central Eyre Iron Project (CEIP) would unlock significant benefits well beyond the project’s mining and ore processing operations.

“We operate on a principle of third party access to our planned infrastructure business. The approved deep water port at Cape Hardy will be a first for South Australia and a fresh approach to infrastructure development in the region,” Stocks said. “Our ongoing partnership with Emerald Grain, now complemented by EPCBH, will also ensure maximum benefit for local communities and the region.”

“We believe the development of multi-user facilities with cross commodity access for other industries, such as grain, will open up substantial additional export and import opportunities and maximise benefits at regional and state levels. To this end Regional Development Australia Whyalla and Eyre Peninsula, on behalf of Iron Road, recently called for preliminary expressions of interest for export, import and other opportunities at the proposed Cape Hardy port.,” he continued.

“We welcome the partnership with EPCBH and look forward to working with them and others to advance this exciting part of the project,” Stocks concluded.

EPCBH’s spokesperson Bruce Heddle said the purpose of EPCBH is to pursue opportunities that may arise from the proposed development of Iron Road’s new port facility at Cape Hardy, for the benefit of co-op members as well as the broader community. The MoU with Iron Road signifies a concerted effort to work collaboratively with Iron Road with a view to positively impacting the grain industry across the Eyre Peninsula,” Heddle said.

Read the article online at: https://www.drybulkmagazine.com/ports-terminals/14112017/iron-road-and-epcbh-to-establish-grains-export-business/