BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!
That was the scene this morning at this country’s lone working sugar factory, Portvale, Blowers, St James, as this year’s sugar season officially started.
From 10 a.m., trucks started delivering canes from fields in Constant, St George; Dukes, St Thomas and Three Houses, St Philip, while others trans-loaded from Bulkeley factory in St George.
The factory yard was a hive of activity with trailer trucks laden with canes rolling in to offload, then moving off to collect another load.
In the factory itself, workmen could be seen lifting pieces of equipment from one point to another, welding, or with tools in hand working.
Portvale manager Raphael O’neal said he was confident of a smooth start later in the day. He said they needed to have about 1 000 tonnes of canes before they began grinding.
“This factory is ready,” assured O’neal.
“We have been ready since February 24. Three steam trials between [then] and now have been done and I’m confident of a trouble-free start-up,” he said.
Production is scheduled to end on July 13. (SP)
