Domtar to close pulp mill, lay off 330
Domtar Corp. said this morning it will idle its Baileyville pulp mill for an undetermined amount of time beginning in early May. The closure will send ripple effects throughout the region and would affect more than 400 workers.
Citing weak global demand, historically high inventory and depressed prices, the Montreal-based papermaker said it is necessary to close the Woodland facility, which employs approximately 330 workers, according to a company release. "With no immediate recovery in sight, we must temporarily reduce our pulp manufacturing capacity," said John Williams, Domtar's president and CEO.
The closure will send ripple effects throughout Washington County. The mill is the primary customer of the Eastport Port Authority. It sent nearly 377,000 metric tons of pulp through the port last year, Chris Gardner, executive director of the Eastport Port Authority, told Mainebiz this morning. Gardner estimates up to 100 people at the port could be affected by this closure, including longshoremen and independent truckers. But Gardner said the closure wouldn't close the port. "We're not done. We're just going to have to revamp, retool and rethink. And we've been in the process of doing that for some time."
The Baileyville mill has an annual hardwood pulp production capacity of 398,000 metric tons. Domtar is the largest integrated manufacturer and marketer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America and the second largest in the world based on production capacity. It reported revenues of $6.4 billion in 2008, of which approximately 81% was from its pulp and paper operation.
Gov. John Baldacci said this morning he had dispatched Rosaire Pelletier, a paper industry expert, to work with Domtar on trying to find a way to keep the mill open. "Maine will not sit idly by while a national recession steals jobs from communities around our state," Gov. Baldacci said in the statement.
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