Correction: IP to shut down PM No. 1 at Franklin, Virginia, mill by year's end, with 166 layoffs as a result; entire mill to close in the spring

Dec 30, 2009 — ForestWeb

LOS ANGELES, December 30, 2009 (ForestWeb) —

Forestweb Editor's Note: This article has been corrected to show that PM No. 1 produced coated paperboard (not uncoated freesheet paper).

On Thursday, International Paper Co. will shut down the No. 1 paper machine at its Franklin, Virginia, mill, resulting in 166 layoffs, The Tidewater News of Virginia reported Dec. 29.

The shutdown of PM No. 1, which makes coated paperboard, leaves two paper machines still operating, but both will shut down by the spring, when the entire mill closes.

This move is in line with IP’s Oct. 22 announcement that it was closing the Franklin mill as part of a national strategy to reduce production capacity. During that announcement the company also said it would close its Pineville, Louisiana, and Albany, Oregon, containerboard mills.

In November, IP shut down the Franklin mill's PM No. 6, which produced uncoated freesheet paper.

The Franklin mill currently has about 1,100 employees. Until the mill closes in the spring, IP plans to keep 770 hourly and 187 salaried workers on board, according to an Oct. 30 letter the company sent to the City of Franklin and Isle of Wight County.

The primary source of this article is The Tidewater News, Franklin, Virginia, on Dec. 29, 2009.

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