Operations News

There were no injuries sustained from the fire.

Georgia-Pacific has given an update on a worker who was critically injured in a Thursday morning, Jan. 19, incident at the company's Pineland facility.

Fibre-based consumer packaging leader Graphic Packaging International ('Graphic Packaging') has announced it is moving its Bristol, UK beverage packaging manufacturing operations to a new, state-of-the-art facility nearby, creating up to 30 new jobs in the process.

Mercer International Inc. reports that, due to a lack of appropriate fiber availability, its Celgar mill in British Columbia, Canada, is planning to take approximately three weeks of downtime. This curtailment is expected to commence in March 2023.

Ohio-based printing company Multi-Color Corporation announced that it plans to permanently close its Menomonee Falls facility, resulting in layoffs for all 29 employees, according to a letter the company sent to the Department of Workforce Development's Dislocated Worker Unit.

The Land and Environment Court in Vänersborg has communicated its decision to grant a permit for increased production output at the Nordic Paper plant in Bäckhammar, Sweden. The new permit allows for Nordic Paper to, after investments, increase its production of paper pulp in Bäckhammar by more than 20% and of kraft papers by more than 10%. The company is now going to analyse the details of the permit in order to determine any impact on potential investment alternatives.

WestRock union workers have been on the picket line since Oct. 6th.

Canfor Corporation will extend sawmill curtailments in British Columbia (B.C.) due to ongoing weak market conditions and the lack of available economic fibre, company announced.

The Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) paper mill in Jackson has called employees back to work and is expected to resume production Monday, Jan. 9.

The negotiations affect all workers at Stora Enso's packaging materials mills in Oulu, Varkaus, Heinola and Anjalankoski.

For the third time, members from three united steel workers unions have voted to reject what Westrock paper mill representatives call the company's last, best, and final offer.

Canfor Pulp Products Inc. is announcing the immediate curtailment of its Intercontinental Pulp Mill, which is expected to be in place for four weeks. The curtailment is due to the lack of available economic fibre as a result of sawmill curtailments. The downtime will remove approximately 24,000 tonnes of market kraft pulp.

Over 450 Unifor members in Dryden have voted overwhelmingly in favor of three new contracts with Domtar.

What is being described as a "perfect storm of events" has resulted in the unexpected shutdown of International Paper Company's Georgetown mill - and the Christmas weekend freeze is to blame.

An electrical fire knocked the power out to the Tolko Industries sawmill in Armstrong after the site's electricity substation went up in flames early Dec. 28.

The fire had been discovered by mill employees, who activated the fire suppression system for the machinery.

Workers at Port Hawkesbury Paper have signed their first agreement in 10 years, making long-overdue gains for members of Local 972.

Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. announced that its facility at Jesup, Georgia has been impacted by a force majeure declared by its natural gas provider, Southern Natural Gas Company, L.L.C., due to an unscheduled outage of the Elba Express Pipeline's Hartwell Compressor Station (the "SNG Force Majeure Event", or "Event").

The Event impacted natural gas supply to the Company's facility in Jesup, Georgia, and has resulted in an estimated $4 million EBITDA impact to the Company. The Company continues to reserve all rights to more fully examine, and potentially contest, the validity of the financial penalty it has been assessed.

Over 200 Unifor Local 5025 members voted strongly in favor of a new deal with Resolute Forest Product's Thunder Bay Sawmill that will see the current collective agreement re-opened and extended by 4 years to September 8th, 2028. The new extension will include key language improvements, an additional 24% average pay raise and achieve all provisions of Unifor's Eastern Canada Pulp and Paper Pattern established back in May.

Tolko says the curtailment affects the Armstrong and Soda Creek lumber operations, and that the downtime will be evaluated at the end of January to determine the next steps.

Despite efforts to rescue him, a worker died in a hopper accident at a Newark gypsum plant and distribution center Tuesday, Dec. 27 according to the Alameda County Fire Department.

Layoffs are expected to begin March 31.

A firefighter was transported to Jefferson Healthcare for exhaustion-related symptoms from fighting a fire Tuesday morning, Dec. 13, at the Port Townsend Paper Mill.

Mondi, a global leader in sustainable packaging and paper, has started production at its €16 million greenfield plant in Morocco, which can produce 100 million paper bags each year.