Staff
Citing poor market conditions for its pulp and paper products, AbitibiBowater temporarily will curtail operations at its Fort Frances mill through March on a scheduled basis.
Paper machine #6 will be shut down from March 1-April 4 (five weeks) while paper machines #5 and #7 will be idled from March 22-April 4 (two weeks).
The kraft mill also will cease operations from March 22-April 4.
Detailed work schedules for the shutdown will be posted in the next week, the company said.
The curtailment is due to “continued depressed market conditions,” mill manager John Harrison said this morning in a press release.
But he indicated the commissioning of the biomass boiler will continue throughout the curtailment period.
“We continue to test the operational performance of the new biomass boiler and will continue to proceed through the commissioning phase, bringing it to full and optimum operation in April,” Harrison noted.
The local mill most recently had a shutdown from Dec. 24-Jan. 2.
