T-PORTS

T-Ports specialises in innovative solutions for the export of Australian commodities, partnering with customers and investors to use a flexible model that positions port infrastructure close to the product’s origin.

T-Ports was established in 2018 as a joint venture between Inheritance Capital Asset Management (ICAM), Duxton Asset Management and SEATRANSPORT.

ICAM is an experienced South Australian fund manager founded around the former investment team of a South Australian Government insurance fund, with well-known directors and a strategic investment stake by global agribusiness fund manager Duxton Asset Management.

Duxton Asset Management specialises in investments in direct agriculture and Asian emerging markets, and as one of the leading international participants in agricultural investments, currently manages or advises investments across 540,000 hectares of farmland on five continents.

SEATRANSPORT is a specialist marine design and consulting service and a world leader in the design and construction of transhipment vessels.

T-Ports was formed from these three partners which worked together to initiate the $115 million Lucky Bay Port Facility development, securing $96 million in private investor equity and debt.

The name T-Ports is based on the use of transhipment vessels, reflecting the innovation central to the Lucky Bay project in moving away from the region’s traditional port model.

Lucky Bay is an innovative port development project on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.

The $115 million development is South Australia’s first farmer and private equity partnership port, which involved securing $96 million in private investor equity and debt.

After an expression of interest phase in 2017, 120 EP grain growers indicated their support for the project with 377,000 tonnes of estimated throughput. These growers will acquire equity in the port for ongoing throughput over the next seven years.

Lucky Bay provides an alternative grain storage and export option which is fully operational since the 2018-19 grain harvest.

The Lock storage site will be built at the north-west corner of the town. The site will be equipped with 150,000 tonnes of storage, dual-automated 40-metre weighbridges and a dual-sided sampling office with automated probes. Similar infrastructure will be used at Lucky Bay, which will have two sampling offices.

The Lock site will be a four-month build, the Lucky Bay bunkers a five-month build ready for deliveries in October and stage one of the port a five-month build ready for exports in the December to February window.

The development would not be possible without the initial support of 120 growers who expressed interest in delivering grain to Lucky Bay and Lock.

The lower build cost and lower environmental footprint compared with traditional export port facilities in South Australia has made the financial feasibility of the investment easier to attain with a lower throughput requirement from growers.

The benefits of this project will flow through to farming families, and their local communities, as they secure equity in T-Ports and, as a result, a share of the profits of storing and shipping their grain.

EP growers who did not respond during the EOI period can still be involved. A retail fund will be set-up before June 2018 that gives growers the opportunity to have some cash ownership in the development and either become involved or further increase their support.