FreightCorp preferred operator for Qld coal contract

[TM <tmid@ozemail.com.au>]

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The ROM coal industry newsletter reports:

>AUSTRALIA, FreightCorp to Haul Coal in Queensland............
>
>Power generator Stanwell Corporation Ltd and coal miners and exporters Jellinbah Resources Pty Ltd and Ensham Resources Pty Ltd have named FreightCorp preferred operator for a 10-year contract to haul 6 million tonnes per year of domestic and export coal in Central Queensland.
>
>This is a major achievement for FreightCorp as it moves to become a national operator in Australia’s rapidly evolving rail industry.
>
>The new rail service will be centred on the Blackwater to Gladstone rail line, hauling coal from Blackwater region mines to Stanwell Power Station near Rockhampton for domestic power generation and to the Port of Gladstone for export. 
>
>The three Queensland companies coordinated a rail haulage tender process in November 1999, seeking to improve their competitiveness by reducing rail freight costs.
>
>The service will be FreightCorp’s first based in Queensland and its first on a narrow gauge rail network, complementing other bulk haul operations in NSW and South Australia.
>
>“The selection of FreightCorp as preferred operator by these important companies is the result of a demonstrated capability for establishing efficient bulk rail haul services on various routes in southern and eastern Australia. This is the core strategy for FreightCorp,” said FreightCorp Chairman, Paul Espie.
>
>“FreightCorp will deliver real benefits to the companies and to regional Queensland by way of new capital investment, reduced costs, service innovation and operating efficiencies,” he added.
>
>“These companies putting their rail haul requirements to tender, like Flinders Power in South Australia – for whom we’ve hauled coal for a year now – demonstrate the rapidly emerging national market for rail based bulk products,” Mr Espie continued.
>
>The arrangement between FreightCorp and Stanwell, Ensham and Jellinbah will be the first major example of third party access to the Queensland rail network.
>
>FreightCorp Managing Director, Lucio Di Bartolomeo, said the key issue in finalising the contract will be negotiating access charges and conditions on the Queensland rail system, which has not yet experienced competition from other rail freight operators. 
>
>“We are working closely with the Queensland Competition Authority and the network owner, QR, to reach an acceptable commercial outcome so that the service is up and running by late 2001,” Mr Di Bartolomeo said.
>
>The FreightCorp service will be delivered using 2 train sets of 100 wagons each, operating on a continuous 24-hour per day, 365 days a year basis. Train crew and other staff are to be hired locally, with the operation locally managed from a base near Rockhampton. 
>
>FreightCorp plans to invest over $70 million in narrow gauge locomotives and rollingstock and construction of a new fleet maintenance facility in the Rockhampton region.
>


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