Mackay Sugar last week called an end to its 2022 crushing season, with all three mills – Farleigh, Racecourse and Marian – crushing out of sugar cane by midnight last Friday.
The decision to call an end to the season follows recent heavy rainfall across the region, which has left sizable sections of railway track damaged, bins and locos stranded, and cane paddocks waterlogged and unable to be harvested.
“Our people have worked tirelessly to see 94 per cent of the total crop harvested and processed this season, but we have made the decision to stop crushing as the safety of our cane supply, rail infrastructure and harvest teams is our priority,” said Carl Morton, Mackay Sugar General Manager Operations.
“The season has also extended several weeks beyond our initial predicted finish date due to early season rain, mill performance issues and a 13 per cent increase in crop size, so I know our workforce, growers and harvesters are all looking forward to a well-earned break,” he said.
Whilst official numbers weren’t available at time of print, Mackay Sugar’s initial season summary reports a total 5.54Mt of cane crushed over the 31-week period, producing more than 664,000 tonnes of raw sugar.
Mackay Sugar also generated approximately 121,080 MWh of renewable electricity throughout the crushing season via its cogeneration facility, with some 89,340 MWh of that being exported into the national grid and supplying local Mackay households.
“That said, the season presented more challenges than expected, however we have prioritised the key performance issues that impacted the 2022 crush and have plans in place to address these,” explained Mr Morton.
“We commenced detailed planning for our maintenance period several months ago, and as a result we are ready and equipped for the upcoming maintenance season despite the ongoing challenges arising from the tight labour market that we continue to manage and deal with,” he said.
“As part of our ongoing continuous improvement focus, we have identified improvement opportunities in maintenance and operations which we have prioritised leading into the 2023 season.
“This year our crews have already been working on the maintenance program with split rosters to ensure we work on critical path jobs and we know we have a lot of work to do to see another successful crop crushed in 2023,” Mr Morton said.
“We are very proud to have a truly dedicated workforce who will work extended hours over the maintenance season and we acknowledge the people who have moved their planned leave to ensure critical path jobs are prioritised so that we have a timely commissioning and start to 2023 crush,” he said.
The rain event halted the 2022 crushing season. Photo credit: Bureau of Meteorology
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