Fortress Paper Resumes Construction at Thurso
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Fortress Paper Ltd., Vancouver, B.C., Canada, has resumed construction at its Specialty Cellulose Mill in Thurso, Que., Canada, after all employees of contractors engaged by the company reported to the construction site October 27. The Fortress Specialty Cellulose Mill began experiencing instances of construction worker absenteeism in the evening of Thursday, October 20, with certain trade workers failing to report, in increasing numbers, to the construction site the following day and throughout the weekend.
Fortress stated in a press release that "while at the time the company did not consider that these actions were likely to materially impact the timing of the conversion project at the mill, the unexpected full walkout by the construction workers on Monday, October 24, has impacted the critical path of the project. The company expects construction activity to reach normalized levels once the construction workforce is fully remobilized and construction activities are fully ramped-up. However, it is possible that labor relations could change as a result of ongoing opposition to proposed government legislation."
Fortress says it is actively seeking to mitigate any delays, and, assuming the construction workforce continues to be fully engaged in the project going forward, it expects that dissolving pulp production will commence no later than the middle of this month.
Fortress operates three mills—the Landqart Mill in Switzerland, the Dresden Mill in Germany, and the Fortress Specialty Cellulose Mill in Quebec. The company's security papers include banknote, passport, and visa papers, and its specialty papers include non-woven wallpaper base products and graphic and technical papers. The company's pulp business includes specialty pulp produced at the Fortress Specialty Cellulose Mill, which is currently in the process of converting this capacity into dissolving pulp production along with the construction of a biomass based cogeneration plant.
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