Sugar Terminal Limited chair Mark Grey said he'd 'had a gutful' at 2023 AGM

"We've had a gutful," was the response from STL chairman Mark Grey when he was questioned by a canegrower at the organisation's annual general meeting.

This came after Canegrowers Mackay chairman Kevin Borg called into question the lack of perceived governance by the STL board and its "scathing comments" about its long-running dispute with customer Queensland Sugar Limited.

"Somewhere along the way we need to sort this (dispute) out," Mr Borg said.

"I believe it's a failure of corporate governance."

By then Mr Grey had clearly lost patience.

""We have held our nerve," he snapped.

"We have had a gutful of people including yourself making comments in the media".

Mr Grey said QSL's failure to engage with STL was infuriating but added the board had worked diligently to try to come to an arrangement with the customer..

Earlier this year STL announced as owner of Queensland's bulk sugar terminal facilities, it would take over terminal operations from not-for-profit operator QSL and issued a termination notice for its Operating Agreement.

Under those terms. QSL would continue to be the operator of the state's bulk sugar terminals (BSTs) until 30 June 2026.

Mr Grey said QSL had not been cooperative and failed to communicate as required by the agreement.

"QSL sets its own KPIs, ignores any problems and claims a bonus each year, this is unacceptable commercial practice not accepted anywhere," Mr Grey said.

"QSL refused to even honour the agreement."

He stressed the STL board had 'serious legal responsibilities," in regard to a WH&S incident at a Mackay ship loading facility managed by QSL, but had not even been provided with appropriate documentation from them.

He said insourcing was never their long-term plan.

"We were left insourcing as the only option as there nowhere else to go," he said.

"STL worked very hard to find an alternative.

"Insourcing will achieve great transparency and a single point of accountability."

But Barry Stubbs, a second-generation sugar grower near Miriwinni, just south of Cairns said he was disappointed STL did not discuss insourcing options when the ceo was in the area to talk about other issues.

"it's a breach of trust not telling us about insourcing," he said.

Mr Grey denied this was the case.

Shareholder Vince Russo said he had, "no faith in the ATL's cost saving projections."

"There really isn't any guarantee you can do it much cheaper in the long run," he said.

He said STL's proposed payroll tax "makes me nervous."

"It concerns me we will hand all the power to you guys who can charge all you like."

Mossman cane grower Don Murray asked about G-class share holder representation on the board and queried if STL was prepared to work at getting equity to "properly reflect" share growers.

Mr Grey said he felt there was no need to change the current board structure.

Another grower from Mareeba said he found it "somewhat concerning the impasse between QSL and STL as both are industry owned."

"Our industry should be able to work harmoniously," he said.

In his opening remarks, Mr Grey acknowledged a higher than usual attendance at the AGM which he said was due to media coverage..

"There has been considerable interest in the AGM and I am aware of heightened attention in the media," he said.

"However, given the nature of some comments...I will address certain misleading statements to set the record straight, (but) there may be things you don't want to hear, but there are things that need to be said."

Mr Grey said STL which owned and operated six bulk commodity terminals in Queensland and handled over 90 per cent of the raw sugar produced in Australia annually had performed well over the past financial year,

He said the agreement with QSL was challenging and denied they had not consulted with them to discuss the agreement.

"We spent three years attempting to have meaningful discussion QSL on a range of matters including a joint and orderly integration of function to STL," he said.

"But we were met with a distinct lack of willingness to engage in any meaningful construction conusltation.ng way."

Earlier Mr Grey said STL achieved a 4.6 per cent improvement in net profit after tax, up from $27.9 million in FY22 to $29.2 million in FY23.

"STL received and outloaded 7.2 million tonnes of raw sugar for the year and increased total revenue by 3.8 per cent, while total operating costs increased by only 3.5 per cent, well below the rate of inflation," he said.

"We kept STL controllable costs to 0.6 per cent,which is well below the level of inflation."

Mr Grey said STL would work towards divesting inactive growers of dry shares will one of several priorities for 2024.he said.

STL chief executive officer David Quinn spoke about the organisation's excellent safety record and environmental issues.

"There is now a need to more actively explore other opportunities," he said.

"Especially in Cairns and Bundaberg,"

Mr Quinn also discussed STL's competition of the $100 million shed reroofing program which upgraded 12 sheds across its network and materially extend their operational life.

He said STL also commenced procurement of the replacement 12km conveyor belt for the Lucinda Bulk Sugar Terminal which is scheduled for installation in late 2023, continued to project manage the construction and delivery of the common user infrastructure at the Port of Bundaberg and how despite its construction cost in excess of $20M, the project remains on budget with commissioning now well underway and importantly, with no impact to our sugar customers.

Voting on resolutions was undertaken and then the meeting closed.

It is understood the results will be released at a later date.

Earlier this week, Canegrowers, the peak body representing the state's second largest agricultural export, said it hoped all G-class shareholders would either travel to Brisbane or log on remotely on November 22 to attend the Sugar Terminals Limited annual general meeting since deciding to insource operations at its bulk sugar terminals.