A record shipment of 50 000 metric tons of raw sugar will be loaded at Mackay Harbour tonight..

The $12.5 million shipment has been purchased by Malaysian refiners.

The sugar will be loaded on board the Handymax class vessel Limnos. The Mackay Bulk Sugar Terminal has the capacity to load the vessel at a rate of about 2200 tons an hour.

Mackay Port Authority chairman John Taylor said the 50 000 metric ton loading will eclipse the previous highest total in Mackay by 2000 metric tons.

The previous record of 48 000 metric tons was loaded by the Artemis in December 2001.

Mr Taylor said the Mackay Port Authority and Queensland Sugar invested more than $20 million upgrading the port’s sugar loading capabilities in 2000.

“This investment has been well and truly justified and now places the port in a strategic position for the future,” he said.