WoolWorks: Flood-hit wool scourer factory re-opens in Awatoto, near Napier after Cyclone Gabrielle

WoolWorks NZ chairman Rob Hewett (left) and president Nigel Hales at the Awatoto factory during the official re-opening. Photo / Warren Buckland

The largest wool scourer plant in the country has re-opened more than a year on from Cyclone Gabrielle in a “big deal for rural New Zealand”.

The re-opening of the flood-hit factory on the outskirts of Napier will help clear a backlog of wool waiting to be scoured, or cleaned, around the North Island. It will also take pressure off the country’s two other wool scourer plants - in nearby Clive and in Timaru.

WoolWorks NZ owns all three wool scourer plants in the country and officially re-opened its main factory in Awatoto on Monday.

At its height, 70 sparkies - as well as plenty of other contractors - were working on the rebuild which included replacing 70km of cables.

The floods of last February caused extensive damage to factories and businesses across the Awatoto industrial area, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars worth of repairs.

WoolWorks NZ president Nigel Hales said it was a big milestone to re-open their factory.

“We are very, very happy with the outcome and the factory is performing beautifully and starting to look like a proper factory should.”

He said they had managed to scour a large quantity of wool over the past year, despite having Awatoto out of action, by ramping up production at their other two sites.

“While there is a backlog, we have processed a lot of wool,” he said, paying tribute to the work at Clive and Timaru.

Hales did not disclose the price of the rebuild but RNZ has previously reported it to be in the vicinity of $50 million.

The re-opened WoolWorks Awatoto factory for scouring (cleaning) wool. Photo / Warren Buckland

Hales said the factory is back at full production and it can process about 300,000 farm bales of wool (or 50 million kg of wool) per year.

WoolWorks NZ chairman Rob Hewett said the opening was a good result for farmers.

“This is a big deal for rural New Zealand. It is a tough environment for everyone out there, not the least being our sheep and beef farmers.”

Hewett said they were well prepared to play their part in the ongoing resurgence of the wool industry.

Hewett said the factory rebuild was “better than before” and he welcomed Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson’s attendance at the opening.

At the start of summer in December, which is traditionally sheep shearing season, wool storage facilities in the North Island were nearing capacity, largely due to the impact of the Awatoto factory being out of action.

Most of New Zealand’s wool is exported, but scoured here first.

Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.