Bins upgraded for bigger yields

As the record harvest in the Esperance zone finally rolls to a close, the bursting bins at CBH are already being emptied.

The Esperance region has accounted for 17 per cent of the State's 15.8 million-tonne gross harvest volume.

CBH regional zone manager Mick Daw has been busy juggling the receival of more than 2.64 million tonne of grain with both planned and unforeseen upgrades.

"We have exceeded our previous record season by over half a million tonne and exceeded our own estimate for the year by more than 100,000 tonnes," he said.

Mr Daw said he expected to see the tail-end of harvest in the next few weeks although reasonable tonnages averaging 1000 to 1500 tonne a day were still being received through Esperance.

"All our country receival points have now closed, including Ravensthorpe and Munglinup which shut on January 10, it's definitely an earlier wind-up than normal," he said.

Mr Daw said quality had remained very good overall.

"Not much was downgraded and there were very few quality concerns. Protein levels were down on the wetter year," he said.

Mr Daw believed CBH coped remarkably well with the massive tonnages inundating the system over a short period of time.

"The season allowed producers to realise the potential of their properties and we realised the potential of the delivery system," he said. Adding pressure were pre-season upgrade plans which saw phase 1 of Chadwick successfully completed.

But the work hasn't stopped as shipment plans gear up in the next few months, and Mr Daw believes 2014 may be busier yet.

The Esperance zone has seen more than 430,000 tonne of grain pass through port facilities to date, with another 120,000 tonne to ship by the end of January.

The first two weeks of February will see a further 200,000 tonnes of grain shipped. On top of that, the zone manager is in the process of entering into stage 2 of Chadwick upgrade plans.