IP not yet decided about what to do with equipment at idled Albany, Oregon, containerboard mill, but some parties have expressed interest in the site, says mill manager

Dec 24, 2009 — Forestweb

LOS ANGELES, December 24, 2009 (Forestweb) — International Paper Co.’s (IP) closed containerboard mill in Albany, Oregon, has generated some interest from two or three groups that have looked at the site but a deal is not in the works, said the mill’s manager, the Albany Democrat-Herald reported on Dec. 23.

Mill Manager Jeff Yoder told the newspaper on Dec. 23 that some groups had been through the mill but said it was “way too early for any kind of deal of that magnitude to take place” as IP will take some time to decide what to do “with the equipment and the mill site in general.”

Journeyman pipefitter Mike Ortiz told the Albany Democrat-Herald that a group from Asia had looked at the mill, and other workers said they heard an Asian group was interested in producing pulp at the mill.

IP announced on Oct. 22 it would close the Albany mill starting Dec. 16, and would not sell it to any party interested in making containerboard. Other market-related closings were also announced at the time, and included paper mills in Pineville, Louisiana, and Franklin, Virginia, as well as PM No. 3 at the Valliant, Oklahoma, mill.

Yoder said several mills in the region -- including the Longview, Washington, kraft paper and linerboard mill -- have inquired about the Albany mill’s employees should openings occur at their mills, and IP’s Springfield, Oregon, containerboard mill will start interviewing within the next few weeks.

The primary source of this article is the Albany Democrat-Herald, Albany, Oregon, on Dec. 23, 2009.

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