US SUGAR Grows

CLEWISTON - A local sugar producer may have delivered a potential long-term solution to questions concerning its future.

Well into the 2006 harvest season, the United States Sugar Corporation is continuing to expand and upgrade its Clewiston sugar processing and refinery facilities, and expects the expansion efforts to give the company an extra spring in its steps towards regaining the prosperity of years past.
U.S. Sugar announced in November plans for consolidating, expanding and modernizing its sugar milling operations at the Clewiston Mill. The project, termed "Breakthrough," is one of the largest private industrial construction projects in the United States, and will result in the world's largest raw sugar milling operations. The highly automated operation will enable U.S. Sugar to be a low-cost sugar producer and greatly enhance the long-term future of the company.
According to U.S. Sugar Corporate Communications Director Judy Sanchez, the core project team has a very aggressive fast-track project schedule that demands that engineering, procurement and construction are conducted almost in parallel - at the same time that the mill and refinery are running full speed in processing this year's cane crop. There are 68 individuals in management, engineering and construction making sure the project stays on track.
In the past year, a great deal of progress has been made on the project. Demolition of existing structures started in March of last year, allowing the construction crews to begin work in mid-April on cane preparation and evaporator building earthworks and foundation structures.
The hurricanes that struck the Southeast affected some of the equipment and structural steel fabrication facilities located in Louisiana and Texas, putting the project slightly behind schedule. However, with the tremendous momentum the project has at this stage, they expect that this lost time will be caught up within the next couple of months.
Project Facts
* Six-mill facility will be the largest in the world
* Each mill weighs 550 tons
* 382,950 total engineering/management man-hours
* 2.6 million total construction man-hours
* 6,200 cubic yards of concrete poured
* 20.8 miles of piping to be installed
* 7,500 tons of structural steel
* Evaporator capacity of 1,736 tons/hr is equivalent to evaporating the water in 28 swimming pools per hour.
To date, approximately 80 percent of the equipment required for the process has been procured and 39 percent of the construction is completed with the majority of concrete foundation and structural steel installed. A total of 366,000 man-hours have been worked on the project without an accident.
Major pieces of process equipment have been arriving since mid-October, including the milling units from Brazil, juice heaters from France, and evaporator vessels from Louisiana. The evaporator vessels were shipped by barge along the Gulf of Mexico and through Florida via the Caloosahatchee River to the Port of Clewiston. Additional deliveries of specialized equipment are expected during the next two months from England, Sweden and Finland.
Phase I of the project was completed prior to the crop in October, 2005 and the majority of the project will be completed in Phase II by October, 2006. The demolition of some of the existing raw sugar processing facilities will begin in May of this year, making room for the new process equipment that will arrive toward the end of the year. Once installed, this equipment will complete the third and final phase of the Breakthrough project.