Posts Tagged ‘Asciano’

Asciano Executes $775 million Coal Haulage Contract

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Asciano (AIO) announces today that it has executed a long term, take or pay contract with Anglo American Metallurgical Coal Pty Ltd for the movement of a total of 16.5 million tonnes per annum of coal in Queensland commencing 1 January 2012. The signing of this 10 year agreement will generate additional revenue of over $775 million. This new contract will see Asciano hauling 10.9 million tonnes per annum from Anglo American’s German Creek facility which is currently serviced by QRNational. The new contract also encompasses the existing 5.75 million tonnes that Pacific National currently hauls from Anglo American’s Moranbah North mine.

Asciano Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Rowsthorn said, “Anglo American Coal has been extremely pleased with our performance since we began servicing their Moranbah North mine in mid-2009. “Anglo American Coal was looking for a unique and flexible rail haulage approach to its portfolio of mines in the Goonyella system. The result is a performance based contract that not only matches the cargo assembly mode of the coal chain, but also provides Anglo American with the ability to mix and match its mine and port haulage requirements. Winning this major contract reflects the fact that we continue to exceed our customers expectations despite the many challenges we have faced. The successful ramp up of our operations is a testament to our Queensland workforce and management team.

Asciano anticipates that it will have hauled 14 million tonnes of coal in Queensland when it completes its first full year operations on 30 June 2010.  Asciano will procure four new train sets to service the additional volumes for Anglo American Coal which is, as of today, Asciano’s largest contracted customer in Queensland.
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Asciano Secures $1 billion Agreement With Toll Holdings

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Asciano (AIO) today announces the signing of a long term contract with Toll Holdings (TOL) for the haulage of Intermodal rail freight.  The contract is expected to generate revenues of up to $1 billion over the next five years.

Under the contract, Asciano’s Pacific National Intermodal division will supply rail haulage services to Toll for the interstate movement of containers and cars. The initial contract term of five years includes options to extend for up to another 10 years.

Asciano Managing Director and CEO, Mark Rowsthorn commented; “Asciano is very pleased to have signed this long term agreement with Toll our largest customer. ”  “This contract reinforces the long standing relationship between Asciano and Toll, one of Australia’s largest freight forwarding companies,” Mr Rowsthorn said.

Pacific National has also granted Toll a lease over land within its Perth Freight Terminal precinct, where it intends to develop a freight forwarding facility immediately adjacent to the rail terminal (subject to ACCC approval). “Locating the facility at the rail terminal will introduce greater efficiencies and will reduce costs associated with the pick up and delivery of freight at the rail terminal. It will also reduce truck movements and traffic congestion in the Kewdale vicinity,” Mr Rowsthorn said.  “The benefits of co-locating rail and freight forwarding facilities are becoming increasingly important and may become a model for the development of Intermodal freight in Australia.”

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Asciano Secures $250 million Contract With Macarthur Coal

Friday, February 5th, 2010

Asciano (AIO) announces today that it has executed a long term, take or pay contract with Macarthur Coal Pty Ltd (MCC) for the movement of  7 million tonnes of coal per annum from the Coppabella and Moorvale mines in Queensland commencing on 1 November 2010. The signing of this agreement will generate total revenues of approximately $250 million for Asciano and confirms Macarthur related entities as Asciano’s largest coal haulage customer in Queensland with annualised tonnes in excess of 10 million.

Asciano Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Rowsthorn said, “Asciano’s entry into the Queensland market has immediately raised the bar on service quality and we are extremely pleased with the confidence that Macarthur Coal has shown in our performance to date. Macarthur is a dynamic organisation that is focused on delivery and performance and we look forward to continually searching for ways to contribute to their ongoing success”, Mr Rowsthorn said.

“We originally planned on securing contracts totalling 30 million tonnes by the end of 2010 and that box has well and truly been ticked and what’s more, every contract signed to date will deliver returns at or above our internal benchmarks”, Mr Rowsthorn said. “With our first ten train sets in Queensland contracted, Asciano will now proceed to purchasing further train sets to support its ongoing growth in this extremely important market”, Mr Rowsthorn said. “The coal haulage opportunities presented by the northern and southern missing link infrastructure projects, as well as the development of the Surat and Galilee basins, are clearly next on our agenda”, Mr Rowsthorn said.

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Asciano Secures $600 million Coal Haulage Contract With Whitehaven

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

Asciano (AIO) and Whitehaven Coal (WHC) have signed a long term contract for the provision of coal haulage services from Whitehaven’s Narrabri, Werris Creek and Gunnedah loadpoints in the Gunnedah Basin of New South Wales.

The contract provides Whitehaven Coal with long term certainty of their coal haulage requirements going forward. The agreement includes clear performance hurdles and capacity obligations from Pacific National to ensure Whitehaven’s port and rail capacity commitments are matched by above rail obligations through Whitehaven’s growth phase over the next decade.

This long haul, take or pay contract is expected to generate at least $600 million of revenue for Asciano over the term of the agreement. The new contract includes more than a doubling of the rail haulage task for Whitehaven Coal over the next 2 years and is expected to deliver a return on capital to Asciano in line with the benchmarks achieved on recent coal haulage contracts.

The new contract requires one new train set to be ordered immediately. This additional train set is part of Asciano’s $160 million capital commitment announced in June 2009 and means all 4 trains provided for in that commitment are now ordered and underwritten by long term take or pay contracts. Whitehaven Coal has already invested in one train set itself which is expected to be operational in June 2010. Pacific National will lease and operate this train set from Whitehaven as part of this contract. Pacific National has obligations to invest in further trains as required by Whitehaven as its growth volumes come online during the contract period.

Whitehaven Coal’s Managing Director, Tony Haggarty commented, “we are extremely pleased to have entered into this partnership with Asciano for our long term coal haulage requirements. Entering into a contract with performance based hurdles is extremely important for Whitehaven as we expand our operations significantly in the Gunnedah Basin. We are aligning our port, track and above rail contracts to ensure we can deliver our long term growth objectives in the NSW coal export market,” Mr Haggarty said. Asciano Managing Director and CEO, Mark Rowsthorn commented, “this recent contract is a significant achievement for Asciano. As a result of the increased tonnes and longer haulage distances, Whitehaven is now becoming one of Asciano’s largest customers in NSW.”

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Asciano Secures $400 million Rail Contract

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Asciano (AIO) advised today that it has been selected as the preferred rail operator to transport magnetite from Xstrata Copper’s Ernest Henry Mining (EHM) operation in Queensland.

Asciano’s ports and bulk rail business has won a tender process that will see it enter into a take or pay contract with Xstrata Copper to haul a minimum of 1.2 million tonnes of magnetite commencing 1 February 2011 for 10 years. The contract will require Asciano to invest in the order of $80 million. This investment will include two narrow gauge diesel powered train sets and potentially the construction of a loading facility and associated rail infrastructure at Cloncurry in north west Queensland. The bulk rail business will utilise Pacific National’s existing intermodal maintenance facility located in Townsville to service its rolling stock. The contract will generate revenue of approximately $400 million over the 10 year period .

Asciano Managing Director and CEO, “Mark Rowsthorn commented; this is a great opportunity for our ports and bulk rail business and demonstrates our ability to leverage our successful Queensland coal operations. To be selected in a competitive tender process as the preferred operator with a proposal that sees us achieve our benchmark return on capital, long term tenure and take or pay arrangements is a clear indication that our performance based model is important to customers and is aligned to their rail haulage requirements,” Mr Rowsthorn said.

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Aciano Secures 12 Year Coal Haulage Contract

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Asciano has signed a long term contract with Idemitsu for the haulage of coal from its Boggabri mine in the Gunnedah Basin for the next 12 years.  The contract is expected to generate revenue of approximately $500m over the period and includes a 400% increase on their existing contracted volumes over time.

This performance based contract includes take or pay arrangements and will deliver a return on capital in line with the benchmarks achieved on recent coal haulage contracts.   The new contract will initially require one additional train set to be added to Pacific National’s Hunter Valley fleet. The additional train set is part of the $160 million capital commitment announced in June 2009 and means 3 of the 4 trains provided for in that commitment are now ordered and underwritten by long term take or pay contracts.  The contract will require further investment in train sets in the short to medium term to deliver the growth long haul coal haulage task required by Idemitsu.

Asciano Managing Director and CEO, Mark Rowsthorn commented, “this is a great outcome for the Pacific National Coal business as it delivers growth in volumes, superior returns on capital and high quality earnings for the next 12 years. At the same time, we are providing the haulage certainty required by Idemitsu and our other customers to support their long term port and track capacity contracts”

“Asciano will continue to pursue performance based partnerships with coal companies in both NSW and Queensland to meet the demands of the coal market and to grow our coal haulage business within the Group,” Mr Rowsthorn said.

Pacific National Tasmania Sale Completed

Asciano has completed the sale of its Pacific National Tasmania business in accordance with the Business Sale Agreement signed in September. From today onwards the Tasmanian Government, and its newly formed state owned corporation, will assume responsibility for all aspects of that business. The sale included the transfer of PNT employees and assets of the business.

“I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge all those involved in the sales process and thank the Pacific National Tasmania employees that have continued to provide services throughout this challenging period,” Mr Rowsthorn said.

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Asciano Sells Tasmanian Rail

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Asciano (AIO) today announced it had formally entered into a binding Heads of Agreement with the Tasmanian Government to progress the sale of its Pacific National Tasmania (PNT) rail business. The Tasmanian Government will pay Asciano $32 million for the business, as well as commit to spending additional capital on the network and rolling stock, to reinstate services reduced as a result of recent track related derailments and ensure safe operations until completion of the sale. Asciano and the Tasmanian Government will now negotiate a Business Sale Agreement by 31 July 2009, which will result in the full transfer of the business to the Tasmanian Government by 30 November, 2009. PNT will continue to deliver rail services on the Tasmanian rail network, including all West Coast services, until the transfer of the business is completed.

Asciano Managing Director, Mark Rowsthorn said, “We are pleased the Tasmanian Government decided to buy the whole business as this will ensure continuity of employment for PNT employees and continuity of service for PNT customers.” “Asciano has reached several milestones in the last month: resolving its balance sheet issues through a capital raising; securing new contracts in Queensland for the growth of the coal business, and an agreement to sell the Tasmanian business. We are now well placed to focus our energies and attention on the future of the core businesses that remain with the Group”, Mr Rowsthorn said.

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Asciano s $2bn equity raising

Monday, June 15th, 2009

Ports operator Asciano has announced the launch of a $2+ billion equity raising to reduce debt.

The one-for-one rights offer will make shares available at $1.10, a 40% discount to its last traded price.

Asciano has received four offers to recapitalise or purchase parts of the business, but the board has concluded the equity raising is the best outcome for shareholders.

The new stapled securities will be issued in four tranches:

  • one-for-one non-renounceable issue to shareholders: $769 million
  • a placement to professional and sophisticated investors: $231 million
  • a conditional placement, also to professional and sophisticated investors: $1,000 million
  • a conditional placement to director Mark Rowsthorn: up to $151 million

Asciano went into a trading halt on Friday.

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Asciano and MacCarthur Coal Sign Rail Agreement

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Asciano (AIO) has announced today that it has executed a long term, take or pay contract with Macarthur Coal (MCC) for the haulage of coal exports by rail in Queensland commencing in the 2009/2010 Financial Year. The performance based contract is for a period of 9 years and provides Macarthur Coal with rail haulage capacity of up to 3.7 million tonnes per annum. 

Asciano Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Rowsthorn said, “This is another significant step in our strategy of securing market share in Queensland”. “Macarthur Coal has operations exclusively within Queensland and therefore it is particularly satisfying that they have shown such confidence in our abilities as the new operator in that State.  In a coal market that continues to be volatile in the short term, Macarthur Coal was looking for a rail operator who delivers on service”, Mr Rowsthorn said. 

In early April, Asciano commenced commissioning the first of their diesel powered coal trains for the Queensland coal fields.  Full size train operations in the Goonyella and the Blackwater systems are being conducted and early indications of train performance are encouraging. On 24 April, Siemens delivered at the Port of Brisbane the first of 23 AC traction Electric locomotives that Asciano will be deploying over the remainder of 2009 and in the first half of 2010. 

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Fund Manager attacks Rio Chinalco deal

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

Rio boss Tom Albanese s recent promotional tour of Australia has failed to win over this country s biggest listed fund manager. (more…)

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