Last sugar haul is bittersweet
No more sugar cane will be delivered from the fields of Maui. The last Tournahauler haul arrived at the Puunene Mill on Monday. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Monday’s ceremony marking the end of commercial sugar production in Hawaii drew many retirees as well as current employees and dignitaries. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Gov. David Ige addresses the media Monday outside the soon-to-be-shuttered Puunene Mill. He was among the state, county and federal officials on hand to witness the last haul of sugar cane from the fields The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
No more sugar cane will be delivered from the fields of Maui. The last Tournahauler haul arrived at the Puunene Mill on Monday. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Monday’s ceremony marking the end of commercial sugar production in Hawaii drew many retirees as well as current employees and dignitaries. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Gov. David Ige addresses the media Monday outside the soon-to-be-shuttered Puunene Mill. He was among the state, county and federal officials on hand to witness the last haul of sugar cane from the fields The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
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The last Tournahauler filled with sugar cane rolled into the Puunene Mill to be unloaded Monday as government officials and sugar workers, current and retired, watched. The event, which was streamed live, marked the end of harvesting operations at Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., the last sugar plantation in Hawaii. Large economic losses led parent company Alexander & Baldwin in January to announce the shutting down of sugar operations at HC&S, which has a 145-year history, at end of the harvest this year. The processing of the cane continues but smoke from the mill stacks is expected to cease over the weekend and the mill to go black on Dec. 23. HC&S's 675-member workforce has been dwindling since March as specific harvesting operations were completed. There were 370 people still employed Monday, but 350 people will be laid off on Dec. 30.