International Paper announced it’s temporarily suspending operations at its containerboard mill in Pine Hill, Alabama, due to storm damage to the building.
The company identified roof damage after excessive rain in the area, said Amy Simpson, IP’s head of communications for North America, via email. The company is assessing the damage and the repairs needed.
“While we don't have a full timeline, our current thinking is that we can resume manufacturing in August,” Simpson said.
The company is working with customers served by the Pine Hill mill to manage impacts. “Thankfully, IP has a strong network of mills and can shift work orders where possible to minimize impact,” Simpson said.
The company did not specifically respond to questions about what happens to Pine Hill employees in the interim or the expected financial impact of repairs.
The Pine Hill mill is about 60 miles from IP’s Riverdale mill in Selma, Alabama. The company had been converting the No. 16 machine at Riverdale to produce containerboard instead of uncoated free sheet. Company executives had expected project completion by the end of the second quarter, with about $80 million in non-repeating costs this year from the project.
The unplanned downtime at Pine Hill comes as IP has been reworking its footprint and closing facilities. Most recently, the company announced in June that it would close four sites across the United States by the end of the third quarter, which will affect 330 employees.
This followed other such announcements this year. In February, IP announced it would close a Georgetown, South Carolina, container plant, affecting 126 employees. In January, the company filed a notice with the state of Washington about closing a facility in Union Gap with 102 employees. And during a January earnings call, executives said they expected to close at least seven facilities and cut 700 jobs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
IP also was one of numerous fiber companies to report unplanned downtime due to a winter storm in January. That storm caused a roughly $53 million hit to IP’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, executives said during an April earnings call.
