T-Ports plans to grow footprint in SA

Not only will major construction start on its $70-million grain export facility at Wallaroo, the company is working with the Kangaroo Island forestry industry to use its transhipment vessel to salvage any logs following the devastating summer bushfires earlier this year.

T-Ports chief executive officer Kieran Carvill said the company had developed a "temporary, environmentally friendly and cost-effective solution for the export of salvage logs" using their transhipment vessel.

"To be able to capture any value, the logs need to be removed from the island as quickly as possible," he said.

"By developing a temporary solution, using infrastructure already available on the island and our transhipment vessel, T-Ports can maximise returns for plantation owners.

"We have strong support from KI Council, agencies in SA and our partners, so we hope to get started on this early in the first quarter of next year."

As part of that project, T-Ports also plans to build a woodchip export facility at Osborne to utilise the logs.

Woodchips are currently trucked from forests in SA across the border to Portland in Vic for export.

"We don't need to move goods to ports outside SA when we can do that work here and capture the benefits for SA," Mr Carvill said.

"We are working with the landowners to rehabilitate the Osborne site and build an export facility based on the current wharf structure.

"Projects like this, delivering on T-Ports mantra of bringing the 'port closer to the product', are why we exist."

Mr Carvill said the company was also investigating projects at other SA sites, including another in the Spencer Gulf and one to the west of the Spencer Gulf.

"One has been in the planning for a number of years - a multi-product development which includes agriculture and mineral products," he said.

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Mr Carvill said T-Ports saw "huge opportunities" in SA for its growth and expansion, while also increasing profitability for growers and regional businesses.

"For us, as a company built on the commitments of SA growers to support competition in the grain storage and handling system, we see a bright future in SA and are here for the long haul," he said.

"This is where we started (with the Lucky Bay project since 2011) and this is the natural area for us to progress these projects.

"Through T-Ports and its associates, we are attracting $200m in outside investment to the SA agriculture industry and are partnering with local growers to ensure their businesses and local communities are the beneficiaries.

"Competition is the essence of what drives a better deal for growers and T-Ports is delivering that."

T-Ports held drop-in sessions in Wallaroo earlier this week, which aimed to better inform the community on the progress of the new grain handling and storage facility.