DELIVERY records are being broken left, right and centre this harvest with the CBH Group again experiencing another large week of grain receivals after more than 3.5 million tonnes was delivered, taking the total to almost 12.7mt as of Monday morning.
CBH acting chief operations officer Mick Daw said that with growers experiencing excellent harvesting conditions over the past week along with higher than expected yields, CBH had continued to break multiple grain receival records as well as the previous WA shipping record.
"In the past week, we have received more than 500,000t per day for six days and on December 1, we set a new single day receival record of 586,000t, breaking the previous record of 569,000t which was only set two days prior," said Mr Daw.
"In addition to this, we have also surpassed our previous State shipping record of 1.11mt for November with 1.17mt shipped, including an all-time record month for Geraldton, shipping 422,000t of grain.
"It is really pleasing to note that a lot of tonnages have been received at sites seamlessly, which is a testament to our frontline and maintenance teams, as well as the investments we have made into our assets and infrastructure."
Mr Daw conceded the unprecedented volume had placed significant pressure on everyone involved with harvest including growers, their families, employees, transporters and CBH staff.
"CBH is actively working to ensure we can maintain services for growers - this may not be your closest site, but we will ensure major sites can continue to take grain," he said.
"We ask that all CBH staff, growers and transporters be patient, respectful and work together to get through this record-breaking harvest."
"Any concerns growers have regarding site operations should be discussed with the site manager or area manager and not frontline staff."
Albany zone
With some warmer weather last week, receivals increased significantly across the zone with 775,000t delivered in the past seven days, to Monday morning, taking the total to 1.9mt.
Canola, barley and oats are still making up the bulk of receivals, although wheat deliveries are increasing.
Grain quality is generally good despite recent rain, however most barley received has been graded as feed.
All sites in the zone are open for receivals with the average cycle time improving over the past week.
Esperance zone
Harvest is progressing well in the Esperance zone with 761,000t received in the past week, taking the zone total to date to 2.4mt.
Another week of fine weather should see similar tonnages across the zone, with some growers expected to finish their programs.
Wheat is the major grain being received in the zone, with most growers almost having completed, or a reasonable way through, their barley and canola crops.
Quality remains good given the amount of rain that has fallen during the harvest period, while localised issues are being managed and are not of concern to overall zone quality.
All sites still remain open and the average cycle time for the zone is reasonable, however as storages fill, cycle time will naturally become longer due to the availability of the grids on sites.
Geraldton zone
The Geraldton zone received 526,000t last week and is up to 2.9mt in total this season.
Morawa and Canna both broke their all-time site receival records with more grain to come into both.
Wheat made up the bulk of receivals with only small amounts of the other commodities being delivered and some growers have now finished harvest.
Grain quality continues to be excellent overall, with late crops being monitored closely for any potential issues.
Site cycle times remain consistent with previous weeks.
As services at sites such as Mullewa, Northampton and Yuna fill and close, queues at alternative services may increase and potentially impact cycle times.
Kwinana North zone
The Kwinana North zone had very good harvesting conditions in the past week, receiving 800,000t and taking the year-to-date total to 3mt.
Most of the grain being received is wheat, with only small amounts of canola and barley still to come in.
Yields are still above expectations as growers move to harvesting wheat.
All sites in the zone remain open for receivals and the average cycle time has improved.
Kwinana South zone
The Kwinana South zone has had very good harvesting conditions over the past week, receiving 667,000t to bring the year-to-date total to 2.2mt.
With no rain predicted for next week, another bumper week of receivals is expected.
Barley receivals are starting to slow in the north of the zone as growers move into their wheat programs, with wheat deliveries in the past week being double that of the previous week.
All sites are open for receivals except for Tammin, which is open for remote sampling but not for receivals due to services filling and rail being allocated to sites with rapid rail outloading capabilities.
The average cycle time has again improved as more growers have started harvesting wheat.
Growers are encouraged to check the CDF app for services at their local bins as there are some sites where services are now full.
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