Smurfit Kappa to Close Townsend Hook Containerboard Machines ahead of Schedule

Smurfit Kappa, Ireland, has moved up its earlier announced plans to close two existing containerboard machines at its papermaking facility at Townsend Hook in Kent, U.K. and replace them with a single, more modern machine. The company was originally planning to close the two machines in 2014, with the new machine starting up in early 2015.

The company announced earlier this week, however, that the machines would be closing this July. The machines have a combined capacity of 250,000 metric tpy and are expected to close this July after a consultation process with employees, instead of 2014 as originally planned.

"We are bringing forward the closure to extend the training period for our workforce, advance the startup of the new paper machine, and increase the pace of the expected ramp-up. The facility will be rebuilt (using a machine acquired from the Cadidavid liquidator in 2011) into one 250,000 metric tpy, modern, lightweight machine that will be operational by the fourth quarter of 2014 rather than the first quarter of 2015," the company said.

TAPPI
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