The Australian Competition Tribunal has upheld a decision to remove a system where Western Australian grain growers were forced to use CBH services to transport their goods to port.
The decision was previously made by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in 2011, but CBH sought a review of the ruling by the Tribunal.
The ACCC said it made the ruling on the basis that the previous system “foreclosed competition for the supply of grain transport services”.
In removing the system the ruling allows growers and marketers who use CBH storage facilities to use alternative solutions for transporting grain to the coast.
“The Tribunal’s decision means that for the first time since deregulation of wheat export marketing in 2008, growers and marketers in WA will be free to make their own arrangements for transporting grain to port for export” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.
“Importantly, the decision does not affect CBH’s ability to continue to offer Western Australian growers a bundled storage and transport option, currently known as Grain Express.
“The effect of the Tribunal’s decision is simply that growers and marketers storing grain with CBH will no longer be forced to use CBH’s Grain Express system to move their grain.”