Warehousing and distribution company, AWH Pty Ltd, has begun receiving large amounts of cotton into its Bathurst warehouse.
This addition to its Stewart Street warehouse at Bathurst adds to its fibre handling capacity, which has included wool since 2003.
In a statement the company released yesterday, it said AWH was the world’s largest independent cotton, wool and agri-products logistics company handling and storing nearly 920 million kilograms of agriculture fibre and other products annually.
With harvesting of the 2018 Australian cotton crop shaping up to be Australia’s second largest on record, with most regions reporting above average yields and in particular, including a strong season forecast in the Macquarie Region, AWH has had to adjust its receival and handling plans to include the use of its Bathurst facilities.
In order to handle export cotton in Bathurst, AWH has established AQIS approval for the storage and export packing of cotton from its Bathurst warehouse which is traditionally used for wool storage.
The company has also set up a dedicated 7400 square metre warehouse for cotton storage with cotton receivals having begun a week ago.
AWH typically handles more than one million bales of cotton annually and expects to handle between 60,000 and 100,000 bales out of its Bathurst facility.
As part of its integrated supply chain for cotton, AWH has contracted rail provider, Southern Shorthaul Railroad (SSR), to transport 12 metre (40 foot) containers full of cotton via rail from its Bathurst warehouse to the Port of Sydney for export shipping to China.
AWH is jointly owned by stevedoring giant, DP World Australia, and agricultural services company Landmark.
AWH is the world’s largest independent logistics services provider to the Australian cotton and wool industries and also provides an array of general logistics services to the agri-business, construction, renewable energy and retail/wholesale industry sectors.
AWH changed its name in 1998 and its history can be traced to the opening of the Dalgety wool store in Geelong in 1843.
AWH now has 15 warehouses nationally, including in all major capitals and 10 regional areas.