Procurement Professional is the official publication of CIPS Australasia

New Qld deal with India could create tensions

24 Aug 2010

Source:  Logistics Week

According to a new Market Report in Logistics Week,  India’s battle with China for access to the world’s natural resources has thrown up a new development with news that Indian coal importer Adani Group is being lined up as a potential investor in a new export terminal in the Australian state of North Queensland. The writers of the report believe the growing interests of foreign operators in Australia’s freight transport sector, though helping to offset the current shortcomings of the country’s supply chain, risks stoking diplomatic tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Queensland government’s decision to grant rights to Adani, which is India’s largest importer of thermal coal, to develop a new port at Dudgeon Point near the existing Dalrymple Bay terminal, is the first deal of its kind between the government and an Indian operator. Although, in the writer’s view, Australia is in need of outside assistance to develop its freight transport sector to meet the needs of its growing metals and mineral exports, this role has traditionally been reserved for Chinese or Japanese firms, which have been the industry’s main clients to date.

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