Glatfelter rebuilds machine in Germany

Papierfabrik Schoeller & Hoesch, a subsidiary of PH Glatfelter, is to upgrade PM 9 at its mill in Gernsbach, Germany. The unit currently produces tobacco paper, but will be revamped to manufacture tea bag and overlay papers.

These paper grades are made from abaca, or Manila hemp, which is only grown in the Philippines and Ecuador. As a result, PH Glatfelter will also invest in its pulp mill in the Philippines to provide furnish for the machine.

The company plans to increase its abaca capacity by more than 50%, with any excess output not used internally to be sold on the market.

PH Glatfelter is yet to choose suppliers for the $36 million investment. Both schemes are slated for completion in the fourth quarter of 2003.

Sarda adds boxboard PM to Mill in Sardinia

Carton Sarda is to build a greenfield boxboard mill near Cagliari in Sardinia, Italy. The mill will house a 200 tonne/day boxboard machine from Over Meccanica.

The 2.6 m wide PM will produce board in a basis weight range of 250-700 g/m² from 100% recycled paper. The machine is due for delivery early next year, with start up slated for December 2002.

Papelera Guipuzcoana Zicuñaga starts pulp project

Papelera Guipuzcoana de Zicuñaga plans to take a 10-15 day shutdown in December to lay connections for its pulp expansion project at the Hernani mill. The work is part of a scheme to raise bleached eucalyptus pulp production by 100,000 tonnes/yr to 180,000 tonnes/yr at the mill near San Sebastian in Spain's Basque region.

The core installation for the project is a new 650 tonne/day recovery boiler which is scheduled to start up in March 2002. Before that, Andritz-Ahlstrom plans to make modifications to the mill's existing digester, fiber line, white liquor production line and lime kiln to cope with the increased pulp output during the shutdown. The project is due for completion in the first quarter of 2002.

The downtime is limited to the plant's pulp line and Papelera Guipuzcoana de Zicuñaga plans to feed its paper machines with market pulp while the work takes place. The producer currently churns out 250,000 tonnes/yr of uncoated woodfree paper on three PMs.

LPC rolls out new PM

Leicester Paper (LPC) was due to start commercial production on a new 50,000 tonne/yr Andritz tissue PM at its mill in Leicester, UK last month. The company was also set to take delivery of a new 35,000 tonne/yr Perini line to convert the PM's output into toilet rolls in October. LPC already has facilities to convert output into kitchen towels. The UK firm is nursing plans to invest in a 100,000 tonne/yr deinking plant for its mill at the Hamilton Industrial Park.

Inveresk to shut mill in UK

Inveresk has announced plans to close its Kilbagie mill, south of Alloa in the UK before February 2002. The papermaker aims to transfer the plant's production to its Caldwell mill in Inverkeithing. The Caldwell unit and its sister mill, Kilbagie, currently operate as a single unit and make up the graphic paper division of Inveresk.

Inveresk mothballed the uncoated printing/writing PM at the Caldwell mill during the third quarter of last year. Ken Minton, executive chairman of Inveresk, said the company plans to restart the machine. The Caldwell mill will have a capacity of 60,000 tonnes/yr of graphic paper on three machines once PM 4 is back on stream. Minton said Inveresk had no immediate plans to sell off the Kilbagie site or its two paper machines.

Inveresk's restructuring strategy also extends to its 40,000 tonnes/yr graphic board Carrongrove mill in Denny, near Stirling, where Inveresk plans to introduce more flexible production methods.

The news follows earlier announcements of job cuts at the papermaker's St Cuthberts mill in Somerset and its Westfield unit near Bathgate in the UK. In total, the restructuring program will reduce Inveresk's workforce by 20%.

ICT starts up tissue PM

ICT Poland has started up a 50,000 tonne/yr tissue machine from Andritz at its greenfield mill in Poland's Kostrzyn-Slubice region. ICT Poland initially intended to build a 26,000 tonne/yr machine, but later increased the capacity to 50,000 tonnes/yr in the wake of growing demand.

first mill is on the map

The Turkmenistan government has signed a turnkey contract with Gap Insaat Yatirim Ve Dis Ticaret of Turkey to build a greenfield pulp and paper mill in Yasilik. The plant will be the first pulp and paper plant in Turkmenistan. Local straw and cotton linters will be used as raw materials.

Jaakko Pöyry has been commissioned to provide project management services and conduct a pre-feasibility study. The study will take four to five months to complete. The plant is slated to start up in early 2004.

Waraq chooses supplier

Waraq has chosen Allimand to supply a new linerboard machine at its mill in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. The PM is scheduled for delivery at the end of this year and startup is penciled in for the end of 2002.

PM 2 will produce some 100,000 tonnes/yr of kraftliner, white top liner, bleached and unbleached testliner, fluting and unbleached coreboard. The machine will run on recycled furnish, deinked market pulp and virgin fiber pulp.

Waraq is also known as the Arab Paper Manufacturing Company. A spokesman said the company also intends to rebuild its 220 tonne/day containerboard PM 1 but details of the upgrade will not be decided until work on PM 2 progresses.

Syrians wait for DIP arrival

Oriental Paper and Lanatex were due to take delivery of a new deinked pulp (DIP) plant from Lamort in October. The unit will be installed at the Syrian sister companies’ plant in Damascus, Syria.

The DIP unit will supply recycled furnish for the site's two tissue machines. PM 1 and PM 2 produce a total of 24,000 tonnes/yr of tissue.

The new DIP unit is part of the companies' strategy of entering the European market.

Market research carried out by the companies indicated that European consumers favor tissue with a recycled content. The Syrians aim to break into the UK before entering markets in mainland Europe.

Ouate to quadruple output

Tunisie Ouate has chosen Paper Machine Technology (PMT) Italia to supply a new 15,000 tonne/yr tissue machine for its mill in Enfida, in the Sousse region of Tunisia.

The PM will be built next to Tunisie Ouate's 5,000 tonne/yr PM in Enfida's industrial zone. The machine house for the new PM will be located next to the mill's existing building, 30 km from Hammamet Sud and 40 km from the port of Sousse. The new unit is scheduled to start up in the second quarter of 2002.

The Italian equipment manufacturer won the turnkey contract to supply the complete production line from the stock preparation to the winders for the Euro 20 million ($18 million) project.

A building to house a new converting line which will process the extra output has already been constructed.

Sun Paper starts up first of two coated duplex PMs

Sun Paper of China was expected to begin commercial production on its new 150,000 tonne/yr coated duplex board machine at Yanzhou mill, Shandong province last month.

The Metso Paper PM 17 has a design speed of 500 m/min and is 3.2 m wide. Output comprises four-layer grayback and whiteback coated duplex coated board in a basis weight range of 250-400 g/m2.

Thermo Black Clawson provided a stock preparation system for the PM, which includes a 350 tonne/day filler system, a 125 tonne/day upper layer system and a 125 tonne/day back layer system.

Sun Paper plans to bring an identical coated duplex board machine on stream in 2003. The company made room for the new unit during PM 17's installation.

Quanlin orders pulp line

Shandong Quanlin Paper of China has ordered a 150 tonne/day alkaline peroxide mechanical pulp (APMP) line from Andritz-Ahlstrom for its mill in Gaotang, Shandong province. The RMB 70 million ($8.5 million) line is due to start up in October 2002. The APMP line will be fed with local poplar.

The investment is part of a scheme to install a 200,000 tonne/yr coated woodfree PM, which has been stalled by a lack of funds. The state-owned company, formerly known as Shandong Gaotang Paper, had planned to invest RMB 2 billion in a coated woodfree machine. The Chinese government had already given the project the green light, but Shandong Quanlin has been unable to meet requests from its bank for improved guarantees. The project has been put on hold indefinitely until funding is secured.

Due to the uncertainty over the new PM scheme, the extra mechanical pulp capacity will be used to replace the nonwood fiber portion of the furnish that the mill uses for its existing 14 paper machines.

Adiprima selects PM

Indonesia's Adiprima Suraprinta has ordered a 300 tonne/day newsprint machine from Over Meccanica for its mill in Gresik, Jawa Timur. Startup is scheduled for the end of 2002. PM 2 will have a trim width of 3.9 m and an operating speed of 1,200 m/min. The unit will be furnished with 100% deinked recovered paper.

VCP buys into Aracruz

Votorantim Celulose e Papel (VCP) has reached an agreement to acquire a 28% voting interest in fellow Brazilian producer, Aracruz. The shares are equal to a 12.3% total interest. VCP plans to buy the stake from Mondi Brazil, a subsidiary of Anglo American, for $370 million.

VCP and Aracruz made a joint $670.5 million bid for CVRD's 51.48% stake in the pulp producer, CENIBRA, in March. But their plans were foiled when the Japan Brazil Paper and Pulp Resources Development Company exercised its right of first refusal on the offer.

Tissue producers under fire

The Brazilian government has fined the country's three largest tissue producers Real 2 million ($0.7 million) for reducing the length of their toilet rolls from 40 m to 30 m, while charging the same retail price.

Klabin Kimberly, Santher and Melhoramentos Papéis were all affected by the ruling. According to the consumer products market research company, ACNielsen, the top three held 89.2% of the Brazilian toilet tissue market in 2000.

The move follows the government's energy rationalization program which began in June. The authorities ruled that papermakers must slash electricity consumption by 25%. As a result, companies are forced to buy electricity on the market which is more expensive than energy provided by the local electricity companies.

Yet Brazilian supermarkets refused to allow the producers to pass on the increase in energy costs to their customers in the form of higher prices.

The three manufacturers decided to cut costs where they could and reduced the length of their toilet rolls.

Temple-Inland buys Gaylord

Temple-Inland has announced plans to take over Gaylord for $786 million or $1.80/share. Temple-Inland has received a financing commitment from Citibank, to fund its offer for Gaylord. Temple-Inland said the addition of Gaylord will extend its market reach, add to its customer base and provide increased operational efficiency. Gaylord's board of directors unanimously recommended the offer to its shareholders. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

Debt-laden American Tissue files for bankruptcy protection

American Tissue filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the end of the third quarter. The company's raw material providers have cut off supplies since at least June of this year and according to the filing in the US district court in Delaware, several tax and payroll periods are missing. Edward Stein has resigned as executive vice president and chief financial officer of the company.