<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> Genesee & Wyoming (GWI) plans to complete this month its acquisition of FreightLink, the owner and operator of the Adelaide-Darwin railway. </span> <p>By Peter Wilson</p> <p>The US rail operator reported a third quarter profit rise of 15%, with FreightLink representing about a third of total GWI revenues, GWI president and chief executive John Hellmann said in Rochester, Connecticut.</p> <p>The outlook for our Australian business remains positive, as we are expecting a good South Australian grain harvest, improving intermodal traffic and increasing shipments of ores and minerals as we enter 2011, Hellmann said in a statement.</p> <p>GWI agreed with receivers KordaMentha on June 9 to buy the FreightLink assets for $334m and to take on debt with a carrying value of $1.7m.</p> <p>GWIs financial results for the third quarter of 2010 were strong, as revenues increased 15%, and it maintained an adjusted operating ratio of 76.5%, Hellmann said.</p> <p>GWI’s traffic in the third quarter was up 10.3% year-on-year. Company officials said this was principally due to increases in farm and foods, chemicals and other commodity traffic.</p> <p>GWI also owns and operates short-line and regional freight railroads in the US, Canada, and the Netherlands.FreightLink currently has three major rail haulage contracts with AusMinerals, OM Holdings and Territory Resources.</p> <p>FreightLink operates 24 bulk trains a week between mine sites and the Port of Darwin and carries in excess of 3m tonnes of bulk freight, 800,000 tonnes of intermodal freight and 70,000 tonnes of bulk liquids a year.<br /><br /> </p>
