Watco Australia

Watco Australia
Subsidiary
Industry Rail transport
Founded 2010
Headquarters Perth
Area served
 Queensland
Western Australia
Services Freight & infrastructure train haulage
Parent Watco Companies
Website Watco Companies

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 will commence operating in Queensland under a contract with GrainCorp. It is a subsidiary of Watco Companies.

History

On 2009, CBH Group decided to put its rail grain haulage services out to tender for the first time.[1][2] This work had previously been performed by the Western Australian Government Railways, Australian Western Railroad and QR National (now Aurizon). CBH aimed that the amount of grain transported by rail rise from 50% to 70%.[1][3] CBH settled on a business model that saw it invest in new locomotives and grain wagons, with day-to-day operations contracted out.[4][5]

On 13 December 2010, CBH awarded Watco WA Rail a ten-year contract to operate services in the south of Western Australia.[6][7][8] To operate the services, CBH purchased 22 CBH class locomotives from MotivePower, Boise[9] and 574 grain wagons from Bradken, Xuzhou.[10][11] The cost of this rolling stock was $175 million.[12]

Under the agreement, Watco is responsible for providing a comprehensive rail logistics planning service, including train planning and scheduling, tracking, maintenance, inventory control and crew management.[13] Watco operates and maintains 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 and Kwinana.[14] CBH operate on the Arc Infrastructure managed open access network.[15] Watco transports an average of 10-12 million tonnes (368-441 million bushels) of grain from 192 country reception sites to CBH’s four export terminals.[12]

Although the contract officially commenced on 1 May 2012, Watco operated its first service on 30 March 2012.[16][17][18] Because of a delay in the delivery of the rolling stock, QR National continued to operate some 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge services until October 2012,[19] while to operate standard gauge services, locomotives were hired from Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia and SCT Logistics.[20] A further three locomotives were delivered in 2015 as compensation for late delivery of the original order.[21]

In 2016 Watco Australia was awarded an infrastructure train contract by Brookfield Rail to operate infrastructure trains with two 422 class locomotives purchased from CFCL Australia.[22][23] In December 2016, Watco acquired a majority shareholding in Intermodal Group, a Western Australian intermodal container transport group.[24][25] In July 2017, Watco took over the operation of the Forrestfield to Fremantle Harbour intermodal container service from SCT Logistics with flat wagons purchased from CFCL Australia.[26][27]

In late 2019, Watco Australia will commence operations in Queensland under a seven-year contract with GrainCorp. Eight locomotives from the National Railway Equipment Company and 128 wagons from China have been ordered.[28]

Fleet

Class Image Built Number Road numbers Notes
HL 1969 1 HL203 Acquired from CFCL Australia November 2016
FL 1970 1 FL220 Acquired from CFCL Australia November 2016
G 1984 1 G511 Acquired from CFCL Australia 2017
DR 1971 2 DR1564, DR1565 Ex TasRail D class, originally WAGR D1564-65
TBA 2019 8 TBA For GrainCorp contract in Queensland

References

  1. 1 2 Bidding underway for WA grain rail management Rail Express 11 November 2009
  2. ↑ Tender plans for rail future ABC News 18 November 2009
  3. ↑ Asciano in $700m grain bid The Australian 30 August 2010
  4. ↑ Locomotives roll off production line and wagons hit the WA shore CBH Group March 2012
  5. ↑ Major new investment in WA grains industry Agriculture & Food Minister 24 August 2012
  6. ↑ Watco wins CBH Group rail contract Perth Now 13 December 2010
  7. ↑ US group wins CBH contract from QR National The Australian 14 December 2010
  8. ↑ Watco wins CBH grain rail contract Rail Express 15 December 2010
  9. ↑ Clark, Peter (2012). An Australian Locomotive Guide. Rosenberg Publishing. p. 312. ISBN 9781921719554.
  10. ↑ New wagons hit the Western Australian shore CBH Group 9 February 2012
  11. ↑ WA grain industry takes ownership of first rail fleet Rail Express 29 August 2012
  12. 1 2 "Western Australia (WA) - Watco Companies".
  13. ↑ CBH, Watco mark anniversary of moving grain on rail World Grain 3 April 2013
  14. ↑ Receival Site Map CBH Group
  15. ↑ ERA to mediate CBH, Brookfield rail talks Western Australian Business News 31 October 2013
  16. ↑ CBH, Watco rail agreement starts early World Grain 2 April 2012
  17. ↑ CBH grain wagons go to work early Farm Weekly 5 April 2012
  18. ↑ First train runs from Merredin Merredin-Wheatbelt Mercury 12 April 2012
  19. ↑ Annual Report June 2013 Aurizon
  20. ↑ Annual Report September 2012 CBH Group
  21. ↑ CBH pushes market limits The West Australian 23 December 2013
  22. ↑ "Watco Australia" Motive Power issue 108 November 2016 page 28
  23. ↑ Transfer of ownership of locomotives FL220 & HL203 Australian Rail Track Corporation 14 November 2016
  24. ↑ Watco Acquires WA's IMG Watco 22 December 2016
  25. ↑ Watco buys WA freight business Western Australian Business News 5 January 2017
  26. ↑ Minutes Western Australia Port Operations Task Force March 2017
  27. ↑ Transfer ownership and renaming of CQFY & CQSY wagons to DQFY & DQSY Australian Rail Track Corporation 12 April 2017
  28. ↑ US giant Watco poised to enter Queensland Track & Signal issue 22/3 August 2018 page 25
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