Mossman in Far Northern Queensland is one of the original sugar towns with a long heritage of sugar cane and milling.
That season lasted just under 8 months, extending from June 1906 to late January 1907.
Initially, sugar was shipped from Port Douglas, however road transport eventually came to the forefront and in 1958 became the preferred mode of transport for sugar to the bulk sugar terminal in Cairns. L.J.F. Prince (General Manager) pioneered the use of computers for cane payment accounting and, in 1971, Mossman purchased the first process control computer used in the world sugar industry.
The Mossman Mill is the most northern of the 24 mills situated throughout the east coast of Australia. The mill currently employs approximately 150 people during the crushing season and approximately 80 during the off season to undertake maintenance and refurbishment activities. It also employs approximately 20 administrative and management personnel.
The Mossman Mill was responsible for the first planting of sugarcane on the Atherton Tableland in 1989, with the cane delivered to the Mill in 1990. In 1993, due to the growth in the region, production was increased to continuous crushing. Cane supply peaked in 1996 with throughput in excess of 1,176,000 tonnes, a third of which came from the Tablelands.
However, in 2005, with changes to the Sugar Industry Act 1999, and increased transport costs and depressed returns, suppliers elected to supply the nearby Tablelands Mill at Arriga, and Mossman Mill reverted to a 5-day crushing week due to a reduced throughput.
The Mill currently crushes approximately 850,000 tonnes of cane each season which produces approximately 110,000 – 115,000 tonnes of raw sugar between the months of June and November.
The raw sugar is transported to Cairns by road where it is deposited at the bulk sugar terminal. Between the months of June and November, the 40 tonne sugar trucks will make approximately 2,600 return trips to Cairns.
Mackay Sugar Limited (Mackay Sugar Limited) acquired the Mill from the Mossman Sugar Company in 2012 but subsequently has been forced into a financial restructure involving the disposal of the Mossman Mill.
