The Old Town mill inches a bit closer to reopening last week, with the announcement that crews accepted the first batch of wood chips needed to restart operations at the mill, The mill has been closed since 2015, when former owner Expera abruptly shuttered its doors. Last October 15, however, the property was bought by ND Paper LLC, a subsidiary of Nine Dragons Paper of Hong Kong. Nine Dragons Paper is China’s largest producer of containerboard, which most commonly is used in making cardboard boxes. According to a social media post, more than 400 contractors, as well as newly-hired ND Paper employees, are working hard, testing and retesting equipment and machines to ensure the mill can safely be reopened. Click Read More below for additional information.

Total European shipments of graphic papers in April 2019 were down 4.1% vs. April 2018 and are down 6.1% year-to-date. Total European shipments of newsprint in April 2019 were down 3.2% vs. April 2018 and are down 4.3% year-to-date. Total European shipments of sc-magazine in April 2019 were down 2.5% vs. April 2018 and are down 5.0% year-to-date. Total European shipments of coated mechanical reels in April 2019 were down 3.1% vs. April 2018 and are down 7.1% year-to-date. Total European shipments of uncoated mechanical (improved & others) in April 2019 were down 14.0% vs. April 2018 and are down 13.4% year-to-date. Total European shipments of coated woodfree in April 2019 were down 8.7% vs. April 2018 and are down 10.5% year-to-date. Total European shipments of uncoated woodfree in April 2019 were UP 1.0% vs. April 2018 and are down 1.4% year-to-date. Click Read More below for additional information.

The service agreement, which will start in September 2019 and run for more than nine years through to February 2029, will be managed locally by ANDRITZ Chile. It is the largest maintenance and service contract ANDRITZ has ever been awarded. This order follows the announcement by ANDRITZ in October last year that it would be supplying major woodyard equipment, fiberline, white liquor plant and evaporation technologies and equipment for the MAPA project. The scope also includes a complete operator training system with an exact model of the plant areas to train the operators in customer-specific operating scenarios. Completion of the MAPA project will make the Chilean company the third largest supplier of eucalyptus pulp globally. The modernization and expansion project is due to start up in the first quarter of 2021 and will see the mill producing 2.1 million tons of pulp annually. Click Read More below for additional information.