Heading for the wash rack
At this point, the cane is dumped from the crane into a rotating device that drops the cane from about four meters onto a conveyor. This keeps the cane from bunching up as it heads to the wash rack. If the crane were to dump right onto the rack, the sticks of cane would become entangled in the process and clog the path to the mill.
A warning sign says "Danger! - Stay Back". This was our first indication that we are getting close to the "teeth" built along the track to pull the cane along the path to becoming sugar.
In the lower part of the picture you can see a small buildup of debris from cane. This is normal from the rotating fingers above. It is cleaned-up every hour. The large pipe is steam ducting. The structure in the background houses the actual mill.
What happens when the trucks arrive faster than the mill can handle the load?