MONTREAL, QC — Cascades Boxboard Group Inc. will discontinue operations at its folding carton facility in Scarborough, ON, affecting 125 employees.The plant, which converts coated boxboard into a var…
MONTREAL, QC — Cascades Boxboard Group Inc. will discontinue operations at its folding carton facility in Scarborough, ON, affecting 125 employees.
The plant, which converts coated boxboard into a variety of folding cartons, will continue its manufacturing activities until Oct. 31, 2002. The company plans to gradually transfer production over the six-month period to its six other folding carton plants.
GRANTS: ONTARIO GETS 1.5M FOR FOREST SCIENCE
TORONTO, ON — The Living Legacy Trust has awarded ten forest science grants, totaling nearly $1.5 million, aimed at improving the health of forest industry in Northern Ontario. The grants were awarded to the Forestry Research Partnership (FRP) based at the Canadian Ecology Centre in Mattawa, ON.
The grants aim to pool talents, experience and resources in forest sciences and operations. The projects to be funded by the grants will promote partnerships among the Canadian Forest Service, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Tembec. It aims to focus on sustainable, science-based forest practices and hopes to maintain and enhance an ecologically sustainable fibre supply to Tembec mills over the long run.
The FRP is a unique partnership of forestry experts from both the federal and provincial governments and the industry.
ACQUISITION: CASCADES ADDS TISSUE OPERATIONS
KINGSLEY FALLS, QC — Cascades acquired 33 converting lines and has concluded agreements to purchase a tissue paper mill and a paper machine through its affiliate, Cascades Tissues Group Inc.
The tissue mill located in Mechanicville, NY, and the tissue paper machine in St. Helens, OR, have a total combined capacity of 110,000 tons. These assets were previously owned and operated by American Tissue Inc., and will be acquired for $35 million US.
American Tissue Inc. is presently in the reorganization proceedings under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
PRICE HIKE: SONOCO INCREASES PRICES
HARTSVILLE, SC — Sonoco will increase prices for its paper-based engineered carriers (tubes and cores) by 7.5% in Canada and the United States.
The increased costs for insurance, salaries, freight and energy in the last two years, as well as increasing paperboard prices fueled the decision. This is the first general price increase for tubes and cores in over two years.
The company recently increased prices in Europe by 7.5% to 12%.
CERTIFICATION: DOMTAR GETS FSC CERTIFICATION
MONTREAL, QC — Domtar has obtained the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody certification for its Canadian paper distribution operations, Buntin Reid. This makes Domtar’s FSC certified papers available through an entirely certified supply chain, from the forest to the retail floor.
The FSC monitors activities to ensure that the highest standards possible for environmentally and socially responsible forestry are met and maintained. The certification is a comprehensive system for tracking and inventorying certified wood through all points of process and distribution.
FINANCIAL NEWS: NORSKECANADA EARNINGS DOWN
VANCOUVER, BC — Poor market conditions, duties imposed by the U.S. on Canadian lumber, and global economic slowdown, contributed to a net loss of $41.5 million for NorskeCanada during the first quarter of 2002.
The company said the results were in line with expectations, given the traditionally slow first quarter for the industry and the persistently difficult market conditions facing pulp and paper producers.
MILL: KRUGER UPGRADES FOR $7.5M
MONTREAL, QC — Kruger Wayagamack invested $7.5 million to upgrade the quality of its directory paper manufactured in the No. 3 paper machine at the Trois-Rivires mill.
The new installations will allow the mill to use thermomechanical pulp and 40% recycled pulp from other Kruger-Scotts divisions to produce directory paper. New paper machine automation and various other projects will also improve sheet profiles — measurement of basis weight, humidity and other variations — and roll build for higher quality of the final product. Work on this project will be completed in July.
CERTIFICATIONS: BC MILL REACHES MILESTONES
VANCOUVER, BC — Weyerhaeuser recently added two timberlands and three mills to its list of certified operations. With the recent certification of South Island Timberlands, all of the company’s forest operations in British Columbia are now certified to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) standard.
The company also certified three of its B.C. Coastal Group sawmills — Somass, Alberni Pacific Division and New Westminster — to the ISO 14001 standard.
Weyerhaeuser aims to have all its operations worldwide certifiable by 2005.
Stillwater Timberlands also recently certified half of the public land portion of its operation to the Canadian Standards Association’s (CSA) Sustainable Forest Management system standard. Having certified almost 2.1 million hectares, Weyerhaeuser has the largest area of CSA certified forest operations in British Columbia.
The CSA standard includes performance requirements established through a community advisory process using critera set by the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers. These third-party certifications validate that these forests are managed in ways that maintain forest productivity and biodiversity, protect soil and water, and offer aesthetic, recreational, cultural and wildlife benefits.The standard is approved by the Standards Council of Canada as a national standard for Canada.
STATISTICS: PAPER PRODUCTION, DEMAND DECLINES
MONTREAL, QC — The Pulp and Paper Products Council said the demand for printing and writing papers declined 1.2%. Production dropped 4.9% and total shipments to North America and overseas decreased 2.1%. As a result, the operating rate, measured by the shipment-to-capacity ratio, was 86% in March 2002 compared to 89% in March 2001.
The council also said production at North American newsprint mills was down 13% year-over-year in March, resulting in an 84% operating rate. For the first quarter of 2002, mills operated at 86% of capacity.
In March, North American shipments fell 10% year-over-year. Weak domestic demand, down 7%, explains roughly half of the decline in total shipments. Overseas exports, which declined by 23% year-over-year, accounts for the other half.
MILLS: NEWSTECH REOPENS N.Y. MILL
DEFERIET, NY — Newstech, a subsidiary of the Canadian Belkorp Industries, is reviving the defunct Deferiet Paper mill in Upstate New York.
Newstech is undergoing a $9.6 million dollar project to purchase the real property of the former mill, renovate it and purchase new equipment. The company is projecting the creation of 214 new jobs over the next three years.
AWARDS: APPLETON WORKERS WIN AWARD
ROARING SPRING, PA — Appleton Papers and its Spring Mill workers got the 2002 Governor’s Award for Safety Excellence.
The award was presented by Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Robert Jubelirer on behalf of Gov. Mark Schweiker to Appleton Spring Mill’s 523 employees — 407 of whom are represented by the Paper, Allied, Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union.
Appleton Papers’ safety committee has 18 overall written safety and health programs. Employees have the authority to shut down unsafe equipment or processes, participate in incident investigations and offer recommendations, and write a work order to correct safety hazards.
The Governor’s Award for Safety Excellence recognizes successful workplace-safety programs.
ACQUISITION: MIDWEST RECYCLING OPERATIONS BOUGHT
HARTSVILLE, SC — Paper Stock Dealers, a Sonoco subsidiary, has acquired recycling operations from Republic Paperboard Company. The purchase includes recycling operations in Kansas City, MO, and Topeka, KS, and a recovered paper trucking operation in Manhattan, KS.
These operations will help supply high quality recovered fiber to the company’s paper mill in Hutchinson, KS. The Kansas City location is being closed and its operations transferred to the Topeka processing facility.
CONTRACTS: ABB L
ANDS BIGGEST EUROPEAN DEAL
HELSINKI, FINLAND — Stora Enso chooses ABB industrial technology for its Langerbrugge mill in Belgium, in what is to be Europe’s biggest paper mill investment.
The new paper production line, L4, is valued at $13.2 million US and will be one of the world’s largest newsprint production lines with a capacity of 400,000 tons per year.
ABB’s drive system, medium voltage switchgears and motors will run and control the whole production line. PM4 and the deinking plant will be ventilated with ABB Industrial ventilation. The delivery also includes ABB’s Industrial Quality Control for the existing production line PM3.
CLOSURES: MEADWESTVACO CLOSES WESTAB
STAMFORD, CT — MeadWestvaco will close the Westab facility in Front Royal, VA, in mid-August and transfer its production and some equipment to other plants to reduce overhead costs.
The Westab facility presently employs 160 employees, and produces a wide variety of paper-based school and office products, including spiral-bound notebooks, envelopes, planners and calendars.
LAY OFF: VOITH HQ REDUCES WORKFORCE
APPLETON, WI — Due to mill closures and permanent paper machine shutdowns, Voith Paper’s North American Headquarters will lay off approximately 25 Appleton employees, and 15 people at other locations.
Print this page
