Week ending Sunday 24 November 2019 report

Network deliveries hit 800,000 tonnes in our biggest week so far for the 2019/20 harvest, pushing total receivals over two million tonnes. Western and Central regions both passed the million tonne milestone.

Viterra Operations Manager Michael Hill says Monday and Tuesday were our two largest days so far this harvest, with growers harvesting as much as possible ahead of Wednesday’s network-wide site closures due to forecast extreme weather conditions.

“Safety is our highest priority, and after consulting with our strategic site committee chairs, their support was behind closing all sites on Wednesday due to the forecasted conditions,” Michael says.

“To minimise any impacts from the closures, we extended opening hours for Monday and Tuesday, some sites until midnight, and saw receivals exceed 170,000 tonnes both days.”

The Central region took the most grain last week, with more than 390,000 tonnes delivered.

Viterra Central region Operations Manager Jack Tansley says our Bowmans, Port Giles, Wallaroo, Snowtown, Gladstone, Ardrossan and Roseworthy sites received the largest tonnage.

“Bowmans broke its daily receival record after deliveries surpassed 16,458 tonnes on Tuesday, a bumper day which also saw a single grower deliver nearly 750 tonnes to our Wallaroo site,” Jack says.

“Our Port Giles site remained closed on Thursday due to fires in the area, and we continue to work closely with affected growers to understand any impact on remaining crops and provide delivery options if required.”

Viterra Western region Operations Manager Nick Pratt says as well as a busy week of grower receivals, the Western region loaded Thevenard’s first vessel for this harvest, with grain from last season.

“The majority of grower receivals were in the south, with high receival days recorded at our Lock, Cummins, Port Lincoln and Tumby Bay sites,” Nick says.

Viterra Eastern region Operations Manager Jo Klitscher says the region’s harvest is ramping up.

“We received twice as much grain last week as the one before, with most sites starting to extend hours to match the increase in harvesting,” Jo says.

“After our Frances site welcomed its first delivery on Friday, all sites are now receiving grain.”

Did you know?

• Viterra’s Thevenard port terminal loaded over three million tonnes of commodities onto vessels in the past year. The Thevenard port is our busiest, exporting not only grain, but also mineral sands, gypsum and salt.
• On average, employees across our network will probe trucks more than 1 million times during a harvest as part of the classification process.
• Almost 70% of our vacant positions have been filled internally since 2017. By promoting jobs internally, we offer career progression opportunities including those that provide prospects for seasonal workers to join our business in permanent roles.

Disclaimer
* This data is subject to variation due to individual site operations and the timing of reports.
** The total 2019/20 data includes grain received into Viterra’s storage and handling network since 8 October 2019.
*** Eastern region data includes Inner Harbour and Victorian sites.