New Rockingham wool handling hub ‘more efficient and sustainable’: Elders

Elders has opened its long-awaited new Rockingham wool handling hub, with the innovative facility officially starting operations this month.

The Rockingham facility — part of a $25 million investment which also includes a new hub in Melbourne — combines wool sales activities with storage and handling operations.

Elders is spruiking the integrated approach as a way of improving efficiency and sustainability in the wool supply chain by providing producers a “full end-to-end service”, with “quick and easy delivery from the farm gate”.

Elders general manager agency David Adamson said the agribusiness giant was utilising new technology to support WA wool clients.

“Elders Wool will provide more information about where wool is within the supply chain,” he said.

“The project’s efficiency improvements, end-to-end, aim to increase speed to market and lower costs over time for clients.”

The ecofriendly Rockingham hub is largely solar-powered, and will eventually utilise a fleet of electric Linde forklifts that can run all day after an overnight charge.

Located at the former Jandakot Wool Washing scouring plant, it will be the main storage point for wool bales sold at Fremantle, with trucks bringing in bales from regional WA.

The Melbourne hub — set to open early next year — will be the world’s first automated wool-handling business using driverless, robot forklifts.

Elders WA operations manager Ryan Fletcher told Countryman in February the business was considering rolling out the technology at the Rockingham site at a later date.

“I think down the track we’ll be assessing how we’re going and the autonomous guided vehicles are definitely on the cards,” he said at the time.

“The core line we’ve had made is actually designed so that if we go to AGVs, it’s ready for it.”

Boasting an 11,000sqm warehouse space, it is estimated the facility will have capacity to store up to 17,000 wool bales.

An Elders spokeswoman said the business handled about 350,000 wool bales last financial year.

Elders’ Spearwood wool selling centre remains in operation.