Thursday, 20 December 2012 11:30

Domtar closes one line at Kamloops

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Domtar will permanently shut down one pulp machine at its Kamloops, B.C., facility, putting 125 employees out of work and curtailing Domtar's annual pulp production by approximately 120,000 air-dried metric tons of sawdust softwood pulp.

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The pulp machine, known at the mill as the "A-Line", is expected to be closed by the end of March 2013.

“Prevailing economic conditions in the global pulp markets and the deteriorated competitiveness of this small pulp manufacturing line, coupled with unforeseen boiler repair costs, have forced us to rationalize this pulp production capacity. We will focus our energy and resources on optimizing the larger, more competitive, 'B' pulp manufacturing line which will continue to operate," said Mike Edwards, senior vice-president, pulp and paper manufacturing.

Domtar spokesperson Bonnie Skene told the Kamloops Daily News that problems with a key boiler for the A-line were discovered during the fall maintenance shutdown, and were a contributing factor in the closure.

The mill’s B-line has an annual capacity of approximately 350,000 air-dried metric tons of softwood kraft pulp and employ approximately 300 people.

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