Southern Australian growers’ grain is continuing to move quickly to international markets from Viterra’s supply chain as the company surpasses 6 million tonnes of exports.
Viterra Chief Operations Officer, James Murray says the company's success is attributed to its highly experienced team.
"We have an incredible team of around 1000 employees across our operational sites, ports, and offices, who are working hard to deliver an exceptional service for our customers, ensuring safety and efficiency," James says.
“Viterra thanks employees for their outstanding achievements this season to connect local growers with end use markets.”
James says with the later start to harvest, Viterra has broken shipping records to meet the demand for grain from its network.
“We’ve been moving grain to port as quickly as possible to load onto ships when demand is at its highest,” James says.
“From December to May we loaded over 5.1 million tonnes onto vessels across our network, which was the most we have ever shipped over six months.
"Our employees have since broken another record for the 2022/23 season, after we surpassed our seasonal shipping record at Thevenard which was 544,000 tonnes in 2016/17.
“Wallaroo employees are also celebrating surpassing the 500,000 tonne shipping milestone this month for local growers.”
Viterra’s other ports continue to see strong shipping tonnes and so far have loaded 1.8 million at Port Lincoln, 757,000 at Port Giles, 1.6 million at Outer Harbor and 926,000 at Inner Harbour since the start of the season.
As well as demonstrating the dedication of its local employees to its grower customers, James says these exceptional outcomes are supported by Viterra’s supply chain partners.
“Effectively managing our busy shipping schedule across our six port terminals and ensuring the timely availability of the right grain at the ports requires close collaboration across our network and with our logistics providers. Without them our accomplishments would not have been possible,” James says.
Viterra has managed to maintain excellent customer service while accomplishing some of its busiest shipping periods and received positive comments from export customers regarding the efficiency of its supply chain.
"Our focus on providing a safe, efficient and flexible supply chain for our customers is reflected by the more than 45 buyers and 18 exporters who continue to source grain from the Viterra network,” James says.
“This is further shown in the strong forward bookings for shipping with Viterra, for the upcoming 2023/24 season totalling over 6.2 million tonnes, and for the next four years.
“Heading into a new season with forward bookings provides growers delivering into the Viterra network with the confidence that buyers are ready to purchase their grain when they deliver.”
Viterra is also providing delivery options for growers with grain still on farm and this week marked the delivery of the nine millionth tonne into its network for the 2022/23 harvest.
The milestone was achieved on Tuesday 11 July, with growers delivering lentils to Port Giles for a Viterra vessel destined for India.
"We are still receiving tonnes through our port direct service, which enables buyers to directly purchase grain from growers who can then deliver to port for the vessel,” James says.
“This option is highly beneficial for growers with on farm storage as it offers reduced receival fees, we recommend growers contact their buyers for options.”
Viterra thanks its grower customers for its support during the 2022/23 season, making it the company’s second largest on record, and looks forward to working together in the 2023/24 season to connect local growers’ grain with end use markets.
