CANEGROWERS REGIONAL ROUND-UP Supplied by CANEGROWERS district offices
MOSSMAN In the week ending 20 September 2020 Mossman Mill processed 453,589 tonnes of cane with a further 72,881 tonnes toll-crushed at Tableland Mill. Weekly CCS results continue to be good for both the Coastal and Tableland growers. As a result, the Deemed CCS for payment purposes has been increased in September to 11.4CCS for Coastal growers and 12.75CCS for Tableland growers. There have been a few notable events in Mossman over the past month. Louie Sciacca retired at the end of August after working at Mossman Mill for 44 years. We congratulate Louie for his years of service and dedication to the mill over that time and we wish him the best in retirement. In early September Mossman Mill experienced a bagasse fire around the boiler room, which required a quick shut-down. Swift actions from mill workers and emergency workers saw the fire put out with relatively little damage and no injuries. There was some damage to electrical wiring which was repaired with some new cabling, termination boxes and air lines installed. On 16 September there was a train derailment in the main street of Mossman when a truck and cane train collided. The double header (Faughy and Douglas) left the line after impacting the rear end of a flatbed delivery truck. The train was delivering full bins to the mill but only the first two bins and bogies were compromised along with the locos. Thankfully there were no major injuries from the incident. But being the main feed line for all cane north of Mossman and occurring at midday in the main town centre, there was quite a disruption to the town. Once again, it was the quick reactions from mill workers, emergency workers and traffic controllers that reduced the impact of the disruption, resulting in only 1.4 hours lost time for the mill.
Pictured: A crane was required to clear the main street in Mossman last month after a truck collided with a cane train outside the CANEGROWERS Mossman office.
CAIRNS After a two week run of wet weather, the sun is now out and harvesting and crushing have resumed. In some circumstances growers are reassessing their planting options. The focus has now turned towards growers, harvesters and the mill working together to maximise every opportunity to get the crop off. Some more Smartcane BMP accreditations have been achieved recently, while some of the original growers are presently undergoing the reaccreditation process for an additional five years.
INNISFAIL With the return of wet weather, harvesting operations halted for five and a half days which has put significant strain on crushing operations for the remaining 50% of the crop. All allocated lost time for wet weather has now been used. As of 22 September, 48% of the pre-season estimate of 1,433,525 tonnes had been crushed. When crushing operations have been in full swing, South Johnstone mill has maintained an average crushing rate above 529 tonnes per hour. In recent weeks, the mill has achieved a crush rate over 540 tonnes per hour. CCS levels have eased back, due to the wet weather. Planting has been severely impacted with growers starting to make decisions to cut back on their plans. This will have a flow-on effect in the following years with less plant and more ratooning cane. The Australian Sugar Industry Museum (pictured) has undergone a transformation with a repaint of the building. New exhibits are being prepared which will include national and international level sports achievers with a connection to the sugar industry, and a collection of photographs and information on 32 historical former sugar mills that operated in Queensland.
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