ONLY one of two major port projects on the Eyre Peninsula would be viable, according to a contingent of about 150 graingrowers who gathered at Cummins on Tuesday.
While there were differing views in the room, the majority of growers appeared in favour of building a multi-user port facility with cross commodity access.
It was largely agreed by meeting attendees that only one of the two major projects slated - Free Eyre's grain-focused Port Spencer and the multi-commodity Cape Hardy project led by Iron Road in conjunction with grain partner Eyre Peninsula Cooperative Bulk Handling - could go ahead given the existing Port Lincoln and Thevenard Viterra facilities, as well as T-Ports' recently-constructed grain receival sites at Lucky Bay and Lock.
Both Free Eyre and EPCBH remained bullish about the future of their respective ports after the Cummins meeting, which was organised by Tumby Bay grower Dion LeBrun.
EPCBH chair Bruce Heddle said the cooperative felt "overwhelmingly reassured that growers at the meeting were unequivocally in favour of the development of one port on eastern EP and for that port to be multi-commodity and multi-user".
"They understand that will not be in the first instance, but the option needs to be there," he said.
"They understand the grains industry does not stand alone in our region - we need economic diversity.
"We also felt great support in that growers understand the concept of a cooperative and they favour it as a vehicle for growers to take some control in the space."
Mr Heddle said EPCBH had not seen any community support for "the concept of two ports within 10 kilometres of each other".
With the Cape Hardy project a work in progress, Mr Heddle said EPCBH was always open to the input of growers.
"We are absolutely comfortable with our strategy and were reassured by the grower support shown," he said.
"Our mindset is flexible because we're committed to achieving the best outcomes for the grower community and the broader region."
A lack of support shown for the Port Spencer project came down to a communication failure, according to Free Eyre chairman John Crosby.
"We failed in our communication process with farmers on the EP and we need to fix that," he said.
Mr Crosby said Free Eyre needed to make it clearer to people on the EP about just how advanced the project was.
"There is still a very significant job for us to explain to people our plans and how this project is substantially different to other projects we've been involved with in the past," he said.
"We've got a completely new board, a substantial team of people - both contractors and others - working for us which is why we're confident we're in a good position to put this project together.
"Clearly, there were more people strongly and vociferously in favour of a multi-user port, but there were a number of people who thought their way through the issue and could see potential difficulties with a multi-user model."
Mr Crosby said the Port Spencer project was ultimately a commercial venture and they would not be dictated to by opponents or anyone else.
Free Eyre, through Baker Young, had signed an agreement with a major international infrastructure investment group - which cannot be disclosed yet - that Mr Crosby said were "very keen to help us put together the big licks of money - both debt and equity".
Free Eyre has also come to an agreement with Wallbridge Gilbert Aztec - an engineering and project management company that will complete detailed on-site design work.
The project is awaiting approval from the state government and Free Eyre plans to begin construction within a month of gaining approval.
VOTE SUGGESTED BY STATE GOVT
WHILE the state government has made it clear it could not decide on the future of the two Eyre Peninsula port projects due to their commercial nature, Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister Tim Whetstone said he would recommend Grain Producers SA conduct a wider vote of all EP graingrowers to gauge the level of support behind both port projects.
"I'll potentially put a recommendation to GPSA, to speak to their members to get more overall feedback from across EP and expand on what was aired in the meeting," he said.
"A lot of graingrowers present said this was one of the larger gatherings of EP graingrowers in 20 years, so they feel strongly about this issue.
"It was a respectful community meeting and we got a lot out of it."
Member for Flinders Peter Treloar acted as an independent chair at the meeting and said there was wide representation, with growers travelling from west of Ceduna, Kimba and Port Lincoln to join the discussion.
"We confined comment to active EP graingrowers unless specific questions were asked of the companies," he said.
"We did not vote on any one proposal at the meeting.
"The state government are not going to pick a winner. We're not going to put money into one port proposal necessarily above another.
"Where the state government comes into it is by providing planning approvals, licensing and road infrastructure if and when the time comes."
Mr Treloar acknowledged there was more grower support for a multi-user port, due to it providing cross-industry opportunity.
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