Get a sweet deal at Kaua'i sugar auction

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — It takes a stunning array of equipment to run a sugar plantation, twice as much to run two, and when it's time to shut the companies down, you're left with a huge inventory.

That inventory, from the former Lihu'e Plantation Co. and Kekaha Sugar Co., is being marketed for Amfac Sugar Hawai'i by the auction firm Dovebid and the equipment firm Aaron Equipment at 10 a.m. May 2 at the Radisson Kaua'i Beach Hotel.

There are more than 500 pieces of what's called rolling stock. That includes 55 backhoes, tractors, loaders and excavators, 10 dump trucks, 30 big trucks and tractors (to pull trailers), 20 tractors (to mow and till), 47 assorted trailers, 60 pick-up trucks, a few forklifts and harvesters, and a lot of other equipment.

That's on top of the major items: two entire sugar mills, complete with vacuum plans, condensers, crystalizers, centrifuges and various tanks, and milling equipment.

The closing of Hawaiian sugar plantations often draws interest from Third World countries looking for state-of-the-art gear, even gear that's pretty heavily used.

The auctioneers will offer previews of the equipment and mills on location from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 30 and May 1. If you can't make it to Kaua'i for the auction, there's a high-tech alternative: The auction will be Webcast.

Learn about the auction and the equipment on sale at the Web sites www.dovebid.com/Auctions/AuctionDetail.asp?auctionID=421, and www.aaronequipment.com.