Mackay Sugar's transport policy has developed a cost effective and efficient system based on the accepted industry-wide principle that there is some sharing of cost between miller and grower.
Mackay Sugar has introduced innovative systems to assist in the administration and management of harvesting and transport, including centralised traffic control, computerised mapping of farms from aerial photography, the use of satellite imagery to predict cane yield, GPS tracking of harvesters and locomotives and the provision of information to growers using SMS messaging, a phone-in communications centre and an interactive web site.
Mackay Sugar's 850 km rail network provides a very tightly-controlled method of transporting cane to the nearest factory for processing, minimising the cut-to-crush time and possible cane deterioration.
The network stretches from Wagoora (70km north of Mackay) to Munburra (23 km south of Mackay) and Finch Hatton (76km west). The network lines are 610mm gauge wide. Of the 850km, 550 kilometres form the main line and loops and about 200km are sidings. There are five kilometres of bridges.
Mackay Sugar operates 46 cane haulage locomotives, from the largest - 40- tonne bogie locomotives - ranging to the smallest 18-tonne 060 locomotives. The largest locomotives can haul up to 1000 tonnes of cane (a payload of
180 six-tonne bins). These trains are about 800 metres long.
The fleet of 8500 cane bins is a mix of five-, six- and 15-tonne bins. The bins have no brakes and to assist with braking, brake vans are placed at the rear of some of the trains. The vans are radio-controlled by the driver.
Delivery sidings are strategically located around the district to receive the cane. Some are built for roll-on roll-off
trailers and others are built to handle the more modern tipper bins.
The rail transport is augmented by road transport into areas to which it is uneconomic to extend the rail system, mainly in the Marian and Farleigh areas. These are Cattle Creek, Pinnacle, Owen's Creek, Benholme, Mia Mia, Nabilla, Seaforth, Royston Park-Buthurra, Wagoora, Mt Charlton and Silent Grove.
Some cane is delivered from the Blue Mountains is delivered by growers in semi-trailers to a transfer station at North Eton. The Blue Mountains is a relatively new cane growing area that is some distance from the traditional cane growing area.