MONTREAL—AbitibiBowater Inc. is curtailing paper production capacity, predominantly newsprint, by one million metric tons in a move that will result in about 1,100 jobs being impacted in the United States and Canada. Some mills are being closed permanently, while others are being idled until further notice. The Covington, TN, paper converting facility is being closed for good, removing 70,000 metric tons of coated grades from the marketplace.
BALTIMORE—Mike DuBose's two-year stint as CEO of Vertis Communications will come to an end when he resigns on January 1. The company has named Stephen Dyott as vice chairman and Alex Sorokin the interim president, effective immediately. DuBose presided over the acquisition of American Color Graphics (ACG), as well as Vertis' reorganizational bankruptcy.
An explosion occurred at Flint Group’s manufacturing site in Slough, UK followed by a fire. The site was evacuated and the fire was quickly brought under control by local fire brigades. The cause of the explosion is not known yet.
FRANKLIN, VA—International Paper will permanently shut down its No. 3 uncoated freesheet paper machine here on Nov. 23 due to a decline in demand. The move will reduce IP's annual paper production capacity by 150,000 tons and cost 50 workers their jobs. Additionally, 60,000 tons of lack-of-order downtime will be taken out of the company's U.S. uncoated freesheet mills during the fourth quarter.
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MONTREAL—Domtar Corp. is permanently shutting down the paper machine and converting operations of its Dryden, Ontario, mill, reducing the company's annual paper production capacity by about 151,000 short tons of uncoated freesheet. The Dryden papermaking and converting operations are expected to cease by the middle of November, and it will result in the loss of 195 employees.
MEMPHIS, TN—Verso Paper intends to take about 30,000 tons of downtime related to coated groundwood production during the fourth quarter of 2008. Roughly 9,000 tons of downtime will be taken at its Sartell Mill in Minnesota over a two-week period beginning October 5. The balance of facilities to be impacted will be determined during the fourth quarter.
CINCINNATI—September 15, 2008—xpedx today announced it will open the xpedx Technology Center at its metropolitan Cincinnati headquarters to provide U.S. print professionals a single location where they can learn about, test and purchase new equipment and technologies covering all aspects of offset and digital printing. The center is set to open in January 2009.
MEMPHIS, TN—Verso Paper will begin transitioning the No. 1 paper machine at its Bucksport Mill in Maine to manufacture specialty papers beginning September 22. With this move Verso will begin supplying value-added specialty papers to customers, which leverage Verso’s core coating and lightweight paper production techniques. Once fully transitioned, this change will reduce Verso’s coated…
NORCROSS, GA—August 27, 2008—Unisource Worldwide, Inc., one of the leading distributors of paper, packaging and facility supplies in North America, has announced that it will institute a fuel surcharge. In a letter to customers, Ken Winterhalter, President, Sales, for Unisource, said, “As all of us are painfully aware, fuel costs have escalated at a rapid rate in 2007 and 2008. Up until this point, Unisource Worldwide, Inc. has been able to offset these costs by maximizing our delivery routing and truck fleet utilization. Today though, diesel fuel costs have reached a level for which Unisource can no longer compensate internally.” As a result, effective
